Phti,  M , S, 


P ?<'$(£_ 


The  War  Journal 

of  a 

Missionary  in  Persia 


The  War  Journal 

of  a 

Missionary  in  Persia 


Edited  by  Mary  Schauffler  Platt 
Foreword  by  W.  A.  Shedd 


Price,  Five  Cents 


The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  U.  S.  A. 

156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City 


Dr.  Packard  and  Koordish  Chiefs 


Foreword 


The  following  journal  gives  a vivid  account  of 
the  months  of  distress  and  peril  that  the  native 
Christians  and  missionaries  at  Urumia,  Persia, 
passed  through  last  winter  and  spring.  To  one  who 
went  through  it,  every  incident  mentioned  and  every 
harrowing  detail  brings  before  the  mind  the  pano- 
rama of  terror,  privation  and  disease  that  passed  be- 
fore our  eyes  day  by  day.  No  history  can  ever 
exaggerate  the  horror  of  it  all  as  a whole. 

Possibly  a question  may  arise  as  to  the  right  of  the 
missionaries  to  use  the  money  deposited  with  them 
by  the  native  Persians.  This  money  was  left  with 
the  clear  understanding  that  it  might  be  used  at  the 
discretion  of  the  missionaries,  although  it  was  stipu- 
lated that  it  ultimately  would  be  returned  to  the 
depositors.  The  Mission  emerged  from  those 
months  in  debt  about  $30,000,  which  has  since  been 
entirely  repaid. 

Another  winter  is  at  hand,  and  the  number  of 
Christians  in  the  immediate  Urumia  district  who  arc 
without  food  is  not  less  than  15,000.  Most  of  these 
have  lost  their  homes  and  clothing,  as  well  as  food 
supplies.  Besides  these,  25,000  absolutely  destitute 
Nestorians  have  come  across  the  border  from  Turkey, 
and  the  probabilities  are  that  as  many  more  will  be 
added  to  this  number  of  refugees.  To  these  may 
be  added  Armenian  refugees  from  Turkey  and  other 
destitute  Christians  in  Salmas  and  elsewhere.  Here 
is  a definite  and  desperate  need,  which  the  Relief 
Committee  in  Persia,  consisting  of  the  Honorable 
Gordon  Paddock,  American  Consul  at  Tabriz,  and 
missionaries  of  the  American  Mission,  with  a number 
of  the  Anglican  Mission,  can  meet  effectively  if  they 
have  the  funds.  Can  there  be  a more  cogent  appeal 
than  this?  What  is  your  answer  to  the  concluding 
question  of  this  journal:  “Will  the  Christians  of 
America  pay  the  bill?” 

William  A.  Shedd. 


November,  1915. 


3 


For  the  Dramatis  Personae  of 
this  narrative,  see  Urumia  Station 
in  the  Year  Book  of  Prayer  for 
Foreign  Missions,  Presbyterian 
Church,  U.  S.  A.  Price,  ten  cents. 


The  Journal 


Urumia,  Persia,  Saturday,  January  9,  1915. 
Dear  Friends: — 

I want  to  start  a letter  telling  you  of  the  events  of 
the  last  week,  though  I cannot  tell  when  it  will  reach 
you.  As  you  know,  the  Russians  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  this  part  of  Persia,  and  were  maintaining 
order  here,  so  that  for  the  last  year  conditions  were 
more  orderly,  peaceful  and  prosperous  than  for  long 
years  before.  They  had  a consul  here  who  was  very 
capable,  and  tried  to  do  justice  to  all. 

When  war  was  declared  between  Russia  and 
Turkey,  we  knew  that  this  meant  war  for  Urumia,  for 
we  are  right  on  the  Turkish  border,  and  only  a few 
years  ago  Turkey  tried  to  get  this  section  for  herself, 
but  failed.  We  were  told  by  the  Russians  in  author- 
ity here  that  they  would  hold  Urumia  against  all  odds, 
so  the  city  was  fortified  by  trenches  and  defences  on 
every  side,  and  several  thousand  reinforcements  came. 

On  New  Year’s  Day,  according  to  our  custom,  we 
received  our  friends.  As  many  as  a hundred  and 
forty  of  our  Moslem  and  Christian  friends,  men  and 
women,  called  “to  bless  our  New  Year.”  On  Satur- 
day, the  2nd,  like  a thunderbolt  from  a clear  sky,  we 
were  informed  that  the  whole  Russian  army  was 
withdrawing;  some  had  gone  in  the  night,  the  rest 
would  leave  immediately.  There  was  a panic  at  once 
among  the  Christian  (Syrian  and  Armenian)  popu- 
lation.* The  Osmanlis,  or  Turks  and  Koords,  were 
but  a few  miles  away,  and  the  Christians  were  abso- 
lutely defenceless. 


* Editor’s  Note. — The  term  Syrian,  as  used  here,  applies 
tc  the  Christian  nation  who  speak  the  Syriac  language,  and 
who  are  Nestorians  by  religious  belief.  In  America  they 
call  themselves  Persian-Assvrians. 

5 


At  once,  as  soon  as  the  Russians  had  gone,  with 
large  numbers  of  Syrians  and  Armenians  leaving  at 
the  same  time,  the  evil-minded  Moslems  all  over  the 
plain  began  to  plunder  the  Christian  villages.  When 
the  people  were  trying  to  flee  to  the  missionaries  in 
the  city,  they  were  robbed  on  the  roads  of  everything 
they  had,  even  of  their  outer  clothing.  In  some  of 
the  villages  the  Moslem  masters  placed  guards  to 
prevent  the  people  from  going  themselves,  or  bring- 
ing their  possessions  to  the  citv,  saying  they  would 
protect  them.  When  they  tried  to  get  away,  these 
same  guards  robbed  and  stripped  them. 

The  crowds  had  begun  to  pour  in  at  our  gates  on 
Sunday;  the  city  people  were  taken  in  by  night  and 
many  others  from  near  by.  Sunday  morning  we  put 
up  the  American  flags  over  the  entrances.  On  Mon- 
day morning  Dr.  Packard,  with  American  and  Turk- 
ish flags,  accompanied  by  two  Syrians,  started  out 
to  meet  the  leading  Koordish  chief.  He  arrived  at 
Geogtapa  in  time  to  prevent  a terrible  massacre. 
The  people  of  Geogtapa  who  had  not  fled  to  the  city 
had  gone  to  our  church  and  the  Russian  church,  both 
of  which  are  situated  on  a high  hill  formed  of  ashes, 
a relic  of  Zoroastrian  times.  The  churchyards  are 
enclosed  by  high  mud  walls.  All  finally  went  to  the 
Russian  church,  which  was  on  the  highest  ground. 
They  barricaded  the  strong  doors,  and  when  the 
Koords  attacked  the  men  defended  the  fort  with 
their  guns  and  the  women  crowded  like  sheep  into- 
the  church.  When  Dr.  Packard  arrived  a lively 
battle  was  going  on,  with  little  chance  for  the  Chris- 
tians. He  had  great  difficulty  in  getting  to  the  chiefs 
without  being  shot;  but  he  finally  reached  them,  and 
they  knew  him.  Some  of  these  Koords  had  spent 
weeks  in  our  hospital  and  had  been  operated  upon 
by  Dr.  Packard,  so  they  listened  to  him  while  he 
pleaded  for  the  lives  of  the  people  inside.  After 
several  hours’  entreaty,  they  agreed  to  let  the  people 
go  with  him  if  they  would  give  up  their  guns  and 
ammunition. 


6 


I was  talking  yesterday  with  Layah,  our  Bible 
woman,  who  was  inside  the  church.  She  said  when 
Dr.  Packard  first  tried  to  signal  them  they  did  not 
know  him  and  kept  on  firing,  but  when  they  recog- 
nized him  a shout  went  up:  “It’s  the  Hakim  Sahib! 
Thank  God!  We  are  saved!”  I asked  her  what  the 
Koords  did  when  they  came  out,  and  she  said  they 
stood  bv  and  helped  them,  saying:  "Come  on!  Come 
on!  Don’t  be  afraid!”  In  the  rush,  Layah  fell  and 
broke  her  arm,  and  is  now  lying  on  Miss  Lamme’s 
sofa  resting. 

All  day  Monday  the  refugees  had  come  in,  until 
it  seemed  that  every  room  and  storeroom  was  full, 
many  of  the  rooms  not  lying-down-full,  but  sitting- 
up-full.  But  that  night,  when  Dr.  Packard  came,  he 
brought  over  fifteen  hundred  more  with  him,  and 
they  had  to  be  stowed  away.  This  is  Saturday,  the 
sixth  day  these  thousands  have  been  here  in  our 
yards,  not  less  than  ten  thousand — perhaps  twelve  or 
fourteen  thousand.  We  have  taken  several  small 
yards  and  houses  adjoining  ours,  and  the  English 
Mission  yard  adjoining  the  seminary  yard  is  also  full. 
Of  course,  the  two  Englishmen  of  the  English  Mis- 
sion had  to  leave  with  the  Russian  army,  and  with 
them  a large  number  of  prominent  Syrians,  who  had 
been  sympathizers  with  Russia.  Here  in  the  city 
there  has  been  plundering  and  some  destruction  of 
property,  but  no  general  disorder — unless  it  be  in  the 
Armenian  quarter.  The  fine  brick  quarters  which 
were  built  as  barracks  for  the  Russian  army  I under- 
stand have  remained  intact,  because  the  invaders  are 
afraid  to  go  near  them  for  fear  they  may  be  mined. 

From  the  first  the  Sheikh  promised  protection  to 
us  and  our  people,  and  when  the  Osmali  officers  came 
they  immediately  took  possession  of  the  city,  and 
have  tried  to  keep  order  and  prevent  plundering  by 
Moslems.  The  other  day  a Moslem,  terriblv 
wounded  by  a Turkish  guard  while  robbing,  was 
brought  here  for  treatment.  This  is  an  illustration 
of  our  position:  Here  is  a Mussulman  thief,  plunder- 

7 


ing  Christians,  shot  by  the  Osmanli  guard,  and  then 
brought  to  11s  by  his  friends  that  we  might  care  for 
him. 

Although  we  were  promised  safety  for  all  within 
our  gates,  there  is  no  certainty.  On  Wednesday 
morning  I lav  in  bed  a little  longer  than  usual,  and 
about  half-past  seven  suddenly  an  awful  cry  of  fear 
and  despair  went  up  from  thousands  of  throats,  and 
the  crowds  rushed  toward  the  church,  then  swayed 
back,  not  knowing  whither  to  fly.  From  the  church, 
where  human  beings  are  packed  in  like  sardines,  they 
began  jumping  from  the  windows.  My  first  thought 
was  that  the  Koords  had  broken  in  through  our  back 
gate,  which  opens  into  the  Moslem  quarter,  and  that 
the  massacre  was  about  to  begin;  but  the  poor,  ter- 
rified people  soon  quieted,  and  before  I could  get 
dressed  I knew  it  must  have  been  a false  alarm.  The 
poor,  hunted  creatures  think  if  they  can  only  hold  to 
the  skirts  of  a missionary  they  will  be  safe. 

On  Thursday,  Hannah,  the  wife  of  one  of  our  pas- 
tors, reached  us  after  great  suffering  and  exposure. 
They  lived  in  Nazi,  and  heard  the  report  that  the 
Russians  were  leaving.  They  couldn’t  believe  it,  but 
Sunday  afternoon  Koords  from  the  west  came  and 
began  plundering.  The  people  all  fled  to  a walled 
village,  where  they  thought  they  might  be  safer  and 
because  our  preacher  there,  Kasha  Oner  (Preacher 
Abner),  had  many  friends  among  the  Koords,  being 
a mountaineer.  On  Monday,  a Koord  visited  them, 
pretending  that  he  had  been  sent  by  the  Turks  from 
the  city,  telling  them  they  need  have  no  fear,  as  they 
would  be  protected.  But  it  became  evident  that  he 
was  a spy.  Afterwards  a band  of  Koords  came,  de- 
manded the  guns,  and  drank  tea  with  the  people; 
then  others  came  and  they  began  robbing  and  killing. 
The  people  gathered  together  like  a flock  of  fright- 
ened sheep,  and  many  were  slaughtered.  The  most 
of  them  got  through  the  great  gateway  while  the 
Koords  were  plundering,  and  that  night  they  spent  in 
the  mountains  without  food  or  shelter  and  very  little 

8 


covering.  One  of  our  girls,  Katie,  who  had  gone 
home  on  Friday  for  her  Christmas  vacation,  was 
among  them,  and  saw  her  mother  murdered  and  had 
to  leave  her  body  lying  by  the  gate  as  they  ran.  The 
next  morning  more  than  four  hundred  of  them 
started  toward  the  city,  cold,  hungry,  exhausted; 
many,  having  lost  their  shoes  in  their  flight,  had 
frozen  and  bleeding  feet.  Hannah  came  here,  her 
feet  were  dressed,  and  she  is  lying  comfortably  on  a 
mattress  on  Miss  Lamme’s  floor.  Her  husband  and 
daughter  were  already  here.  I he  rest  of  the  party 
were  taken  in  at  our  college  compound,  two  miles 
west  of  the  city. 

The  pitiful  tales  we  hear  of  murder,  of  narrow 
escape  through  snow  and  mud,  hungry,  sick  and  cold, 
are  numberless. 

Monday,  January  nth. — Several  families  from 
Degala  are  camped  in  our  parlor,  and  night  before 
last  V'ictoria,  one  of  the  women,  came  to  me  and  said 
an  old  woman  had  just  come  in  who  didn’t  seem  able 
to  answer  anything  she  asked  her.  I found  her 
crouched  in  a corner  of  the  hall.  She  said  she  was 
so  cold.  At  first  she  couldn’t  eat,  but  after  drinking 
some  tea  improved.  We  had  absolutely  no  place  but 
a stone  floor  for  her;  but  we  took  up  a carpet  from 
my  bed  room,  rolled  her  up  in  it  in  the  upper  hall- 
way. and  she  went  to  sleep.  She  was  the  janitress 
of  our  church  in  Barbarud,  fifteen  miles  to  the  south. 
The  Koords  did  their  worst  there  several  days  ago, 
and  she  had  escaped,  barefooted,  almost  naked,  and 
without  food.  She  died  a day  or  two  later. 

One  poor  woman,  who  had  both  husband  and  son 
killed,  has  gone  crazy,  and  we  haven’t  any  place  to 
put  her  but  a dark  closet  under  the  stairway.  At  mid- 
night I was  awakened  by  her  pounding  on  the  door. 
She  has  a nursing  baby.  Thank  God.  to-day  they 
took  her  to  the  hospital,  where  they  can  care  for  her 
a little  better  than  here.  (She  died  two  days  later.) 
At  the  College  compound,  where  the  hospital  is.  they 

9 


have  only  about  two  thousand,  and  we  have  perhaps 
twelve  thousand,  and  every  day  more  are  coming. 
Those  who  have  been  hiding  with  Moslem  friends 
are  coming  to  us  day  by  day,  and  we  haven’t  any 
place  to  put  them.  We  have  not  been  able  to  take 
the  dead  from  our  yards,  so  we  are  burying  them  in 
the  little  yard  by  the  side  of  the  church — twenty-seven 
so  far.  Some  die  every  day,  and  there  is  no  shroud 
or  coffin  for  them. 

Evening. — We  have  just  had  a Praise  Meeting  in 
the  parlor  with  fifty  or  sixty  who  could  gather  from 
the  halls  and  rooms  near,  and  we  feel  more  cheerful. 
We  thought  if  Paul  and  Silas,  with  their  stripes,  could 
sing  praises  in  prison,  so  could  we. 

Wednesday,  January  13th. — Since  Monday  the  4th 
we  have  been  giving  out  bread.  In  the  morning  we 
sell  to  those  who  have  money,  and  in  the  afternoon 
give  free  bread  to  those  who  cannot  buy,  disposing 
of  over  four  tons  of  bread  a day.  Practically  all  the 
refugees  from  the  city  have  their  own  food,  and  some 
from  the  villages,  too.  We  buy  our  bread  from  the 
bazaar  (market),  and  a very  efficient  and  willing 
young  Syrian  has  been  attending  to  the  weighing 
and  giving  out,  while  groups  of  other  young  men 
have  been  selling  and  distributing.  The  only  things 
we  have  had  for  carrying  the  bread  are  our  clothes- 
baskets  and  old  tin  bathtubs,  and  they  are  doing  good 
service.  We  have  received  some  gifts  of  food  for  the 
refugees  from  Moslems.  One  man  gave  over  six 
hundred  pounds  of  meat,  which  we  cooked  and  gave 
out  in  one  section,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  distribute 
anything  except  bread  among  so  large  a number. 
I am  speaking  only  of  what  we  are  doing  here  in 
this  compound,  where  by  far  the  larger  number  of 
refugees  are.  They  are  doing  similar  work  in  Sar- 
dari  (the  Boys’  School  premises)  and  at  the  College 
compound.  Mr.  McDowell  is  looking  after  sanitary 
conditions,  and  the  streams  of  water  flowing  through 
the  yards,  which  furnish  the  only  drinking  water  for 
the  crowds,  and  conditions  are  much  improved. 

10 


There  are  hundreds  of  mountaineers  who  have  no 
place  to  go.  Before  this  affair  they  were  distributed 
among  the  villages  and  we  had  established  a number 
of  schools  especially  for  them.  These  people  had 
been  driven  from  their  homes  by  the  Koords  early 
in  the  fall.  Many  of  them  seem  little  above  animals, 
dirty,  lazy,  satisfied  with  any  hole  to  lie  in,  and  just 
enough  bread  to  keep  their  stomachs  comfortable. 
Of  course,  they  arc  not  all  of  this  sort,  but  we  have 
several  hundred  that  are.  They  are  chiefly  crowded 
into  the  church  and  our  large  school  room.  The 
people  who  are  suffering  most  are  those  who  have 
been  accustomed  to  the  comforts  and  decencies  of 
life,  who  are  crowded  together  like  cattle,  without 
sufficient  clothing  or  food. 

The  day  after  the  flight  from  Geogtapa  we  went 
with  a basket  of  bread  to  one  of  the  larger  rooms  of 
the  Press,  which  was  filled  with  self-respecting  people 
who  had  the  day  before  been  in  comfortable  circum- 
stances, but  who  had  fled  with  nothing,  or  had  been 
robbed  of  whatever  they  had  tried  to  bring  with 
them.  When  they  saw  the  bread  for  distribution, 
they  began  to  cry  and  cover  their  faces,  and  we  had 
to  drop  the  bread  into  their  laps — they  didn’t  reach 
out  for  it.  Of  course,  we  assured  them  that,  under 
such  circumstances,  it  was  no  shame  to  eat  the  bread 
of  charity. 

When  the  people  began  to  flee,  they  wanted  to 
deposit  their  money  with  us,  and  our  Treasurer 
accepted  it  on  condition  that  we  could  use  it  without 
interest  and  repay  it  when  normal  conditions  are 
restored'.  It  is  with  this  money  that  we  have  been 
enabled  to  buy  bread  and  save  these  people  from 
starvation. 

Children  are  being  born  every  day.  We  ha^e 
managed  to  give  two  small  rooms  to  these  women, 
many  of  whom  haven’t  even  a quilt.  Children  were 
born  even  in  the  crowded  church.  One  of  the 
women  who  was  reporting  these  cases  complained  in 
a very  aggrieved  tone  that  some  were  “even  bringing 

ir 


two,”  as  if  one  wasn’t  enough  to  satisfy  anybody  under 
existing  circumstances. 

This  is  the  first  day  that  we  have  been  able  to  get 
donkeys  to  haul  away  the  refuse.  I hope  we  shall 
soon  be  able  to  take  the  dead  to  the  cemetery. 

Thursday,  January  14th. — Mr.  Allen  returned  last 
evening  from  his  trip  to  the  villages  of  the  Nazlu 
river.  Several  thousand  fled  toward  Russia;  many 
have  hidden  with  Moslems,  who  are  now  trying  to 
force  them  to  become  Mohammedans  and  to  give 
their  girls  in  marriage  to  Moslems.  In  Ada  perhaps  as 
many  as  a hundred  were  killed,  most  of  them  young 
men.  It  is  told  that  they  were  stood  up  in  line,  one 
back  of  another,  by  the  Koords,  to  see  how  many 
one  bullet  would  kill.  I went  down  to  see  the  woman 
in  the  room  under  mine  who  had  received  word  of 
the  killing  of  her  brother  in  Karajaloo.  Everywhere 
there  is  wailing  and  sadness,  and  her  lamentation  for 
her  dead  brother  is  the  wail  of  thousands  of  hearts: 
“Oh,  Yeremia  (Jeremiah),  my  brother! 

The  pillar  of  our  house;  a father  to  all,  ah,  Yeremia,  Yeremia ! 
Thou  didst  comfort  us  all ! A giant  in  body  and  giant  in  spirit. 
Oh,  Yeremia,  my  brother,  oh,  my  brother,  Yeremia,  my  heart 
is  broken  for  thee ! 

My  brother!  Oh,  my  brother,  thy  house  is  left  desolate;  thy 
little  ones  orphans. 

Oh,  Yeremia,  Y'eremia ! thou  wert  a righteous  man,  merciful 
to  the  poor !’’ 

Saturday , January  16th. — Yesterday  some  Abijalu 
people  were  in  asking  for  bread,  although  a week 
ago  they  were  among  the  well-to-do.  The  same 
story  of  robbery,  exposure  and  horror.  When  a 
Koord  tried  to  carry  off  Shamasha’  Sayad’s  daughter, 
she  jumped  into  the  well  and  stayed  there  for  hours 
in  water  up  to  her  chin.  Some  one  said  a few  days 
ago,  “Blessed  are  the  dead,”  and  I echoed  the 
sentiment. 

Monday,  January  18th. — In  the  midst  of  panic,  dis- 
tress and  death,  we  have  had  two  weddings.  Both 

12 


had  been  arranged  to  take  place  on  the  Syrian  New 
Year,  January  14th.  Dr.  Shedd  performed  the  cere- 
mony in  both  cases.  Both  brides  had  their  trous- 
seaux ready,  but  felt  these  were  not  proper  times  for 
the  display  of  finery,  so  wore  ordinary  dresses. 

These  last  few  days  a number  of  the  city  families 
have  returned  in  fear  and  trembling  to  their  homes, 
taking  just  a very  few  things  with  them.  This  is 
relieving  the  over-crowded  rooms  somewhat,  and 
Miss  Schoebel  this  afternoon  is  trying  to  drive  the 
people  out  into  the  sunshine  long  enough  to  have 
the  rooms  swept — or,  rather,  shovelled.  It  con- 
sumes all  one’s  energies  to  try  to  get  any  one  to  do 
anything.  All  the  responsibility  and  much  of  the 
actual  labor  has  devolved  upon  the  missionaries.  Of 
course,  many  of  our  best  men  fled  to  Russia,  and  of 
those  who  are  left  there  are  few  leaders.  There  are 
some  notable  exceptions,  though,  both  here  and  at 
the  College — e,  g.,  Jacob  David,  who  without  mis- 
sionary assistance  has  charge  of  eight  hundred  and 
fifty  refugees  and  is  doing  finely.  Another,  a young 
shopkeeper,  has  had  charge  of  the  weighing  and  dis- 
tribution of  bread,  with  much  of  the  buying,  from 
the  beginning.  He  has  done  the  work  with  surpris- 
ing efficiency  and  self-devotion.  Bands  of  young 
men  have  been  ready,  day  after  day,  for  distributing 
bread.  The  nights  have  been  divided  into  three 
watches,  and  groups  of  men  have  taken  their  turns 
in  acting  as  watchmen.  Mr.  Neesan,  who  has  charge 
of  the  English  Mission  yard,  one  night  found  the 
watchmen  asleep,  so  the  next  day  they  were  tied  to 
trees,  and  a placard  placed  over  them  with  the  in- 
scription: ‘‘Unfaithful  Watchmen,”  as  a warning  to 
others.  Guarding  the  streams  is  a very  necessary 
and  a very  difficult  task.  Mr.  McDowell  finds  it  ex- 
tremely hard  to  get  any  one  among  the  hundreds  of 
Syrians  here  who  can  be  trusted  to  oversee  such 
work,  or  who  can  be  kept  on  a job  longer  than  an 
hour  or  so  at  a time. 

We  are  urging  some  now  to  return  to  their  homes. 

13 


Many  are  so  afraid,  and  we  cannot  give  them 
assurance  of  safety.  Some  Koords  have  gone,  but 
many  are  still  about.  The  people  come  to  the  indi- 
vidual missionaries  and  beg  for  just  one  small  room 
for  their  families,  each  one  with  his  own  special  plea. 
When  we  tell  them  the  greatest  danger  for  them  just 
now  is  to  remain  crowded  in  such  narrow  bounds, 
it  makes  little  or  no  appeal  to  them.  They  are  nine- 
tenths  fatalists  anyway,  and  think  that  it  all  depends 
upon  the  “will  of  Allah.”  They  say,  “Let  us  die  by 
the  hand  of  God  and  not  of  the  Koords.” 

We  have  been  having  unusually  fine  weather;  only 
two  bad  days,  and  they  were  not  cold.  A Moham- 
medan was  heard  to  say:  “Do  you  see  how  God  loves 
these  Christians?  Who  ever  saw  such  weather  in 
the  middle  of  winter?” 

Dr.  Shedd  is  the  representative  of  our  station 
before  the  government;  he  and  Dr.  Packard  have  had 
that  end  of  the  work,  daily  pleading  before  Persian 
and  Osmanli  authorities  for  the  Christian  population. 
It  was  told  us  that  a prominent  Moslem  had  said: 
“Dr.  Shedd  is  the  best  Christian  in  the  city!  Just 
see  how  he  comes  every  day  through  the  deep  mud 
to  plead  for  those  people!” 

Wednesday,  January  20th. — A few  people  from  the 
city  went  to  their  homes,  and  our  hopes  began  to 
rise;  but  yesterday  and  to-day  others  came  in  from 
the  Na7.1u  river  and  from  Chargoosha.  Thirty-six 
dead  were  carried  to  the  trench  in  Mart  Muryam* 
(St.  Mary)  churchyard  yesterday;  the  larger  part  of 
them  were  children. 

Lucy,  daughter  of  Kasha  (preacher)  David  of 
Ardishai,  came  in  yesterday  with  her  baby  from 
Gulpashan,  where  they  had  been  refugees  for  some 
time,  living  in  terror  of  Koords  by  day  and  night. 
They  also  feared  the  Moslem  neighbors  and  the 
Turkish  guards  sent  in  to  protect  the  village.  Her 


* Christian  quarter  of  the  city,  adjoining  the  mission  property. 

14 


own  village  was  Chargusha.  In  terror  the  people 
fled  to  the  roofs  as  the  village  was  surrounded  by 
Koords,  and  there  was  no  avenue  of  escape.  The 
Koords  came  to  the  roofs  and  commanded  the  people 
to  go  down.  Lucy,  with  one  Koord  below  her  on 
the  ladder  and  two  above  her,  her  baby  on  her  back, 
got  down.  In  the  yard  she  saw  her  younger  sister, 
Sherin,  a pretty  girl  of  about  fifteen,  being  dragged 
away  bv  a Koord.  She  was  imploring  Lucy  to  save 
her,  but  Lucy  was  helpless.  When  she  was  telling 
me  this  with  tears  and  sotis,  she  said:  “Every  night, 
when  I try  to  sleep,  I hear  her  entreaties,  ‘Oh,  Lucy, 
I’ll  be  your  sacrifice.  Save  me,  Lucy!’  I failed  to 
her,  ‘Pull  your  head-kerchief  over  your  face;  don’t 
look  into  their  faces.’  She  tried  to  conceal  her  face, 
and  daubed  it  with  mud,  but  she  has  such  beautiful 
dark  eyes  and  rosy  cheeks!  The  Koords  grabbed 
the  young  women  and  girls,  peering  into  their  faces, 
till  each  one  found  a pretty  one  for  himself,  then 
dragged  her  away.  If  they  had  only  killed  my  sister 
we  could  say,  ‘She  is  dead,  like  many  another — it  is 
finished;’  but  that  she  should  be  in  the  hands  of  a 
Koord — we  cannot  bear  it!”  Some  of  these  captives 
have  been  recovered,  but  there  is  no  word  of  Sherin. 

Saturday,  January  23rd. — Yesterday  we  counted 
three  thousand  three  hundred  in  the  church,  and 
many  have  gone  out,  so  there  must  have  been  four 
thousand  people  there  these  last  two  weeks.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  children  are  dying  by  the  score?  Morn- 
ing and  afternoon  there  are  burials;  at  other  times 
the  bodies  are  collected  and  laid  in  a room  near  the 
gate.  To-day  Mr.  McDowell  succeeded,  after  long 
efforts,  in  getting  a cart  for  scavenger  work.  (It 
came  but  one  day.)  We  have  not  been  able  to  get 
even  donkeys,  except  five  or  six.  The  scavengers 
would  not  come  into  the  yards  of  Christians  for  such 
work,  even  though  Mr.  McDowell  offered  to  pay 
well.  We  cannot  open  our  back  windows,  the  stench 
is  too  dreadful.  I suppose  the  mere  mention  of  such 

IS 


things  is  quite  shocking  even  to  read;  but  we  have 
been  living  in  such  surroundings  for  nearly  three 
weeks,  and  see  only  a little  light  ahead.  We  are  hop- 
ing we  can  distribute  some  of  the  mountain  refugees 
in  empty  houses  here  in  Mart  Maryam  and  the  Chris- 
tian quarter. 

Many  Moslems  who  pretended  to  accept  food  and 
goods  of  Christians  for  safe  keeping,  are  now  claim- 
ing them  as  their  own.  One  of  our  preachers,  after 
ihaving  been  plundered  of.  about  everything  by  his 
Moslem  neighbors,  was  received  as  a refugee  into 
one  of  their  houses  and  was  fed  from  his  own  dishes, 
of  his  own  food,  and  put  to  sleep  in  his  own  bed. 

Dr.  Packard  has  been  gone  for  several  days  to  the 
Nazlu  villages,  to  gather  together  the  remnants  of 
the  people  scattered  in  Moslem  villages,  or  in  hiding, 
and  to  see  if  it  be  possible  to  put  them  into  a few  of 
their  own  places  again.  Most  of  the  Koords  have 
left,  but  the  Syrians  are  unarmed,  and,  just  as  from 
the  beginning,  their  Moslem  neighbors  are  their 
greatest  enemies.  If  it  isn’t  a Jehad  (Holy  War),  it 
is  very  near  it.  It  must  have  been  planned  before- 
hand, for  there  has  been  concerted  action  from  one 
end  of  the  plain  to  the  other,  though  here  and  there 
some  Moslems  have  been  friendly  throughout,  have 
done  many  kindly  deeds  and  saved  many  lives. 

Later. — Just  at  this  point  we  had  an  interesting 
diversion.  A band  of  Turkish  soldiers  came  into  our 
yard  and  said  they  wanted  to  search  our  premises 
for  wounded  Russian  soldiers.  They  searched  the 
houses  of  the  Allens,  the  Mullers,  and  our  house ; 
then  the  schools  and  all  outside  buildings,  store- 
houses, even  to  the  smallest  closets.  You  might 
have  thought  they  were  searching  for  a lost  hair  from 
Osman’s  beard!  I have  an  idea  they  thought  we 
were  concealing  arms  or  ammunition,  though  ten 
days  ago  they  collected  all  we  could  find  anywhere 
among  the  people,  and  gave  them  up  to  the  Osmanli 
commander.  As  we  had  nothing  hidden,  of  course 
we  had  nothing  to  fear,  though  some  of  the  people 
were  scared. 


16 


A dozen  times  a day  I pray,  “Oh,  Lord,  how  long:'" 
All  the  first  days  it  seemed  as  if  it  must  be  a horrible 
dream  from  which  I would  waken ; but  it  has  become 
a three  weeks’  reality,  with  little  hope  of  a near  dawn- 
ing. It  looks  as  if  our  long  night  might  stretch  out 
till  the  dawn  of  peace  in  Europe.  And  for  these 
things  who  shall  answer,  if  not  the  powers  of  Europe? 

We  have  read  that  America  has  done  so  much  for 
the  sufferers  in  Europe;  surely  they  will  not  be  too 
poor  to  help  this  little  corner  of  misery,  with  its 
twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand  sufferers,  and  with 
absolutely  no  one  on  earth  to  look  to  but  the  Ameri- 
can Mission!  For  months  we  have  not  been  per- 
mitted to  write  of  conditions  here,  and  now  we  are 
entirely  shut  off  from  the  world,  even  from  Tabriz. 
Anything  we  write  “must  be  in  French,  just  to  say 
we  are  well.”  Our  last  word  from  Tabriz,  the  near- 
est mission  station  and  residence  of  the  American 
Consul,  was  written  December  31st,  and  this  is  Janu- 
ary 23rd. 

Sunday,  January  24th. — The  fourth  Sunday,  but  no 
Sabbath.  To-day  nearly  all  the  people  were  taken 
out  of  the  church  and  distributed  among  the  empty 
houses  near  the  Russian  Mission  and  in  the  old 
church.  I went  with  some  of  the  young  men  who 
are  helping  with  the  distribution  of  the  bread  to 
count  the  people  in  each  place.  In  one  house  there 
were  two  hundred  and  fifty;  these  are  all  mountain- 
eers. We  give  to  each  one  sheet  or  loaf  of  bread 
per  day;  about  ten  ounces.  Not  very  extravagant 
feeding,  you  see! 

Tuesday,  January  26th. — On  Sunday  a Jew  brought 
11s  word  from  Usknuk  that  Kasha  David’s  daughter. 
Sherin,  is  there  in  the  house  of  a Koord,  and  that 
every  effort  is  being  made  by  gifts,  persuasion  and 
threats,  to  make  her  turn  Mohammedan,  but  that  she 
always  answers,  “You  may  kill  me,  but  I will  never 
deny  my  faith.”  We  are  making  plans  to  try  to  get 


her  back.  Dr.  Packard  reported  on  his  return  from 
the  Nazlu  villages  that  in  one  place  practically  the 
whole  place  has  become  Moslem,  has  given  up  their 
church  to  be  a mosque,  and  some  even  cursed  their 
former  faith.  But,  of  course,  such  people  never  had 
any  religion,  and  changing  the  name  of  it  is  a matter 
of  convenience. 

Wednesday,  January  27th.- — Miss  Lamme  and  I 
went  to-day  to  the  Jewish  quarters  to  look  up  Syrian 
refugees  there.  We  found  them  in  large  numbers  in 
the  Jewish  houses,  where  they  had  been  kept  and  in 
some  cases  fed.  Yesterday  the  French  Mission  sent 
away  from  their  yards  two  hundred  and  fifty  or  more 
persons,  who  first  went  to  the  governor.  He  tele- 
phoned to  Dr.  Shedd,  and  we  had  to  receive  them. 
They  were  put  into  Dr.  Israel’s  house  in  Dilgusha, 
outside  the  city  walls.  All  the  houses  there  have 
been  completely  plundered;  many  have  been  robbed 
of  doors  and  windows.  No  one  thinks  of  returning 
to  homes  there,  but  a great  many  have  returned  to 
Mart  Maryam. 

Later. — Everywhere  about  the  yards  people  are 
basking  in  the  wonderful  sunshine,  which  is  more 
like  April  than  January.  The  common  sight  every- 
where is  the  everlasting  hunt  for  vermin,  friends  and 
neighbors  graciously  assisting  one  another.  I sup- 
pose it  is  a vulgar  subject  to  mention,  but  “we’ve  got 
’em,”  and  must  go  on  living  in  hourly  contact  with 
thousands  of  others  who  swarm  with  them. 

Friday,  February  5th. — We  can’t  complain  of  the 
monotony  of  life,  for  we  never  know  what  will  happen 
next.  Tuesday  morning  I had  a wedding  in  my 
room  here.  The  boy  and  girl  were  simple  villagers. 
He  had  gone  to  Russia  and  brought  back  a little 
money,  with  some  foreign  clothes.  Then  his  folks 
began  to  look  around  for  a wife  for  him.  He  was 
betrothed  several  months  ago  to  Anna  of  Ardishai, 
and,  according  to  custom,  gave  her  the  monev  to  buv 

18 


her  trousseau.  For  several  weeks  she  had  been  sew- 
ing, until  at  last  the  wonderful  silk  dress,  white  silk 
head-kerchief,  veil  and  all  the  necessaries,  were 
ready.  The  wedding  was  set  for  the  Syrian  New 
Year;  but — the  Koords  came  and  carried  off  wed- 
ding clothes  and  everything  else  in  the  house.  They 
all  fled  here,  and  were  married  in  the  old,  dirty  gar- 
ments they  were  wearing  when  they  ran  for  their 
lives,  for  this  was  a month  ago.  In  the  flight  the 
bride’s  mother  was  lost,  probably  killed,  as  nothing 
has  been  heard  of  her  since.  Their  only  present  was 
a little  tea  and  sugar  that  I tied  up  in  a kerchief  and 
gave  to  the  bride,  that  they  might  invite  a few  friends 
to  drink  tea  instead  of  to  eat  the  dinner  they  had 
intended  giving. 

There  are  a great  many  people  who  have  been 
accustomed  to  good  living  heretofore,  but  for  months 
have  had  no  cooked  food,  so  I invited  a number  of 
these  to  dinner  on  Wednesday.  We  had  a meat 
stew,  bread,  cheese,  pickles  and  tea,  all  they  could 
eat.  There  were  thirty-five  for  dinner,  and  twenty 
for  supper.  There  was  enough  left  over  to  feed  fifty 
or  more  poor  and  sick  ones  outside.  The  whole 
thing  cost  about  four  dollars  and  fed  a hundred  peo- 
ple. We  spread  long  cloths  on  the  parlor  floor  and 
ate  with  wooden  spoons  from  enamel  plates  borrowed 
for  the  occasion  from  the  school.  The  matron  and 
school  girls  did  the  cooking  and  serving. 

But  for  our  next  door  neighbors  the  scene  quickly 
changed  again  from  weddings  and  dinners  to  one  of 

terror  and  flight  by  night.  The  house  of  Dr.  

adjoins  ours,  and  the  roofs  are  continuous.  For 
several  days  there  had  been  rumors  that  their  house 
would  be  plundered  by  the  Turkish  authorities,  and 
they  had  not  dared  to  undress  and  go  to  bed  in  peace, 
but  Wednesday  they  felt  more  safe  and  went  to  bed 
early.  1 myself  had  gone  to  bed,  but  not  to  sleep. 
Just  before  eleven  o’clock  I heard  loud  knocking  on 
their  gate,  and  then  a rapid  trampling  of  feet  on  the 
roof  over  my  room.  Pretty  soon  there  was  quite  a 

19’ 


commotion  in  our  front  yard.  I jumped  up,  and  saw 
in  the  yard  a dozen  or  more  Turkish  soldiers,  who 
entered  through  our  front  door  and  went  up  to  the 
roof  through  our  halls.  I dressed  as  quickly  as  I 
could  and  went  to  Miss  Coan’s  room  on  the  roof,  to 

find  that  some  of  the  women  from  Dr. ’s  family 

were  already  there.  In  a few  minutes  the  rest  of 
the  women  and  children  from  there  climbed  the  wall 
or  slid  from  the  roof  on  to  our  balcony,  and  I let 
them  in  through  the  window  into  our  parlor.  They 
were  crying  and  frightened  nearly  to  death,  but  kept 
quiet.  The  Turks  searched  the  house,  but  took  noth- 
ing. saying  they  had  come  to  take  evil  men,  not 
things.  They  came  back  through  our  house  again. 
The  orders  have  been  in  our  yard  that  the  gate 
should  never  be  opened  at  night  but  by  one  of  the 
gentlemen;  so.  when  they  first  knocked,  the  guard 
came  and  called  Mr.  Allen.  He  let  them  in  and  went 

with  them  to  Dr.  — ’s  house.  In  the  meantime, 

a Syrian  had  aroused  Mr.  Muller,  and  when  he  tried 
to  get  out  of  his  front  door  he  found  a Turk  guarding 
it.  He  tried  to  push  out,  saying  that  he  was  the 
master  of  the  house,  but  the  Turk  struck  him  and 
refused  to  let  him  pass.  When  the  gang  returned 
from  our  neighbors’,  they  insisted  on  searching  Mr. 
Muller’s  house,  even  going  into  the  bedroom  where 
Mrs.  Muller  was  in  bed  and  Ruth  was  sick.  Mean- 
time a second  band  came  and  pounded  on  our  gate, 
but  our  guards  had  run  away,  and  finally  one  of  the 
men  climbed  a telephone  pole  to  the  roof,  got  down 
inside  and  opened  the  gate.  The  officer  tied  up  the 
Persian  guards  as  a punishment  for  not  opening  the 
gate.  Afterwards  they  went  into  the  Allen  house 
and  even  asked  to  have  the  piano  played.  It  is  mad- 
dening to  have  our  premises  and  houses  invaded  in 
this  way,  and  by  such  a lot.  but  we  are  helpless,  and. 
for  the  sake  of  what  we  may  be  able  to  do  for  the 
safetv  of  the  people,  our  gentlemen  have  to  smile  and 
trv  to  turn  away  their  wrath  with  soft  words,  even 
though  they  are  threatened  and  called  liars  bv  the 

20 


representatives  of  the  invading  government.  I don’t 
believe  the  Mission  in  the  seventy-five  years  and 
more  of  its  existence  has  ever  been  placed  in  so  dif- 
ficult and  humiliating  a position. 

Still  the  ghastly  procession  of  the  dead  marches  on. 
Between  seven  and  eight  hundred  have  died  so  far. 
A great  many  are  able  to  get  plain  wooden  coffins 
for  their  dead  now,  but  the  great  mass  are  just 
dropped  into  the  great  trench  of  rotting  humanity. 
As  I stand  at  my  window  in  the  morning  I see  one 
after  another  of  the  little  bodies  carried  bv,  wrapped 
mostly  in  a ragged  piece  of  patch-work ; and  the  con- 
dition of  the  living  is  more  pitiful  than  that  of  the 
dead-— hungry,  ragged,  dirty,  sick,  cold,  wet,  swarm- 
ing with  vermin — thousands  of  them!  Not  for  all 
the  wealth  of  all  the  rulers  of  Europe  would  I bear 
for  one  hour  their  responsibility  for  the  suffering 
and  misery  of  this  one  little  corner  of  the  world  alone. 
A helpless,  unarmed  Giristian  community  turned  over 
to  the  sword  and  the  passion  of  Islam! 

This  morning  my  attention  was  called  to  a girl  of 
twelve,  who  was  too  sick  to  be  kept  any  longer  in 
a room  with  other  people.  A young  Syrian  woman, 
who  was  helping  with  the  sick,  wanted  to  put  her  into 
that  closet  under  the  stairway  from  which  none  ever 
come  out  alive.  I said,  "She  will  die  in  there.”  She 
replied,  "Of  course  she  will  die,  but  we  will  have  to 
find  a place  for  her  until  she  does.”.  We  put  her 
there  temporarily  until  we  found  a small  room  where 
there  were  only  twenty.  These  we  distributed  among 
other  crowded  rooms,  brought  Marganeta  there,  laid 
her  on  some  matting  and  covered  her  with  an  old 
carpet.  Poor  child,  she  has  a sweet  face,  but  life 
has  treated  her  cruelly. 

Dysentery  has  been  bad  for  a long  time,  and  when 
the  sick  get  helpless  and  offensive,  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  get  any  one  to  care  for  them  unless  they 
have  near  relatives.  Dysentery  and  measles  have 
both  been  epidemic  for  a long  time,  and  nearly  all 
deaths  are  directly  due  to  one  or  both  of  these 
diseases. 


21 


We  had  a real  respectable  funeral  in  the  front  yard 
this  afternoon.  A good  old  woman  from  Degala 
died,  and  her  pastor  had  a service  for  her.  This  is 
only  the  second  real  funeral  service  I have  seen, 
though  a preacher  is  always  present  at  the  two  burials 
daily,  and  conducts  a service  at  the  cemeterv. 

Friday,  February  12th. — To-day  we  have  begun  a 
new  method  of  giving  out  bread.  We  have  printed 
blanks,  which  we  fill  out  and  ask  the  heads  of  families 
to  sign,  promising  to  pay  us  later  for  the  bread.  All 
day  thousands  have  been  crowding  the  big  tent  in  the 
yard,  where  a number  of  young  men  have  been  filling 
out  and  giving  these  tickets  for  bread.  The  problem 
is  a big  one.  Undoubtedly  some  could  find  bread 
who  are  taking  it  free,  but  we  cannot  decide  most 
of  the  cases.  Then  we  are  spending  thousands  of 
borrowed  money,  and  as  yet  no  response  to  cur 
cablegram  sent  long  ago  to  America!  The  numbers 
asking  for  bread  are  increasing  daily,  but  if  we  should 
refuse  it,  hundreds  would  die  of  starvation. 

Again  the  yards  are  wet  and  muddy  from  melting 
snow.  The  last  two  days  have  been  very  hard  for 
the  thousands  without  fuel  and  with  very  little  cloth- 
ing. One  of  the  verses  that  helps  to  keep  my  faith 
steady  these  days  is:  “He  that  spared  not  His  own 
Son.” 

The  death-rate  has  been  considerable  reduced:  for 
two  weeks  or  more  it  averaged  over  thirty  a day. 

Mr.  Allen  is  off  on  a trip  to  the  villages  of  the 
upper  Nazlu  river,  to  see  what  is  left  there,  and  to 
give  help  or  encouragement  to  any  one  who  may  be 
left.  A while  ago  when  Mr.  Allen  visited  the  villages 
on  the  Baranduz,  one  of  our  Bible  women  told  him 
of  a certain  spot  she  wished  him  to  visit.  She  lived 
in  Kurtapa,  and  as  she  was  about  to  flee  with  a bag 
containing  nine  tomans*  of  money,  the  robbers  ap- 
peared at  the  door.  She  quickly  threw  the  bag 


*A  toman  is  about  one  dollar. 

22 


down  beside  a broken  earthen  tub  and  the  thieves 
did  not  see  it.  Mr.  Allen  went  to  that  village,  found 
the  room  and  the  broken  tub  with  the  bag  of  money 
beside  it,  and  brought  the  money  to  its  owner. 

Last  week,  the  Shahbanda,  or  Turkish  Consul,  who 
is  now  chief  authority,  demanded  six  thousand 
tomans  of  the  Syrians.  With  great  trouble  this  was 
partly  collected  and  partly  borrowed  by  the  help  of 
the  Sarder  (Persian  Governor),  who  demanded  six 
hundred  more  for  his  share.  The  Shahbanda  prom- 
ised that  if  this  were  given,  the  shops  and  houses 
of  the  Syrians  in  the  city  would  not  be  disturbed. 
It  remains  to  be  seen  how  much  his  word  is  worth. 

To-morrow  completes  six  weeks  of  this  siege  and 
semi-siege  condition.  We  keep  on  praying,  but  see 
no  signs  of  deliverance.  We  are  shut  off  from  the 
world,  and  thousands  are  held  in  this  bondage  by 
a few  hundred  Osmanli  troops  and  a few  wandering 
Koords.  I realize  now  that  Persia  is  dead — or 
worse;  she  has  no  manhood  nor  moral  character  left. 

Wednesday,  February  i/th. — A few  days  ago  the 
Turkish  Consul  arrested  all  the  men  at  the  French 
Mission.  After  some  examination,  a hundred  were 
sent  away,  leaving  about  sixty-three  at  the  Consulate. 
A gallows  with  seven  nooses  was  erected  at  the 
"Koordish  Gate”  of  the  city,  the  one  near  us,  and  on 
Sunday  the  ropes  were  put  in  place.  The  people 
here  on  Sunday  were  very  badly  scared.  The  women 
of  the  men  under  arrest  came  and  wept  and  besought 
Dr.  Shedd  to  do  something,  but  he  could  do  nothing. 
That  evening  the  people  gathered  in  the  church  for 
prayer,  and  continued  praying  until  midnight.  Each 
night  since  similar  meetings  have  been  held.  As  yet 
no  one  has  been  hanged,  but  the  Turkish  Consul  is 
demanding  money  for  their  release.  The  second  day 
after  the  arrest  of  these  people,  a Turkish  soldier 
was  sent  to  us  to  ask  us  to  send  bread  for  the  pris- 
oners, and  we  have  been  feeding  them  ever  since. 
When  their  women-folks  went  to  see  them  they  were 

2 3 


charged  two  krans  (eighteen  cents)  admission.  It 
has  been  reported  that  the  prisoners  have  been  tor- 
tured in  various  ways  known  to  the  Turks,  in  order 
to  extort  money  from  their  families. 

The  Turkish  Consul  has  demanded  the  ten  thou- 
sand tomans  of  English  bank  money  committed  to 
us  when  the  bankers  fled.  The  matter  has  been  re- 
ferred to  our  Consul  in  Tabriz.  If  it  should  have  to 
be  surrendered,  we  would  be  in  straits,  for  that  is 
all  we  have  to  buy  bread  with  for  these  thousands 
of  hungry  people.  Weeks  ago  we  appealed  to 
America,  both  to  the  Red  Cross  and  to  our  Board, 
but  there  is  no  reply. 

It  was  reported  to  me  that  there  were  refugees 
here  who  have  stores  of  flour,  meat,  butter,  etc.,  and 
yet  were  taking  bread  from  us.  So  yesterday  I made 
an  investigation  and  found  small  quantities;  but  if 
the  whole  were  sold,  it  would  not  amount  to  twenty 
dollars,  and  the  owners  would  be  reduced  to  nothing 
but  dry  bread,  and,  though  this  might  do  for  a limited 
time,  they  cannot  “live  by  bread  alone”  week  after 
week.  Undoubtedly  this  terrible  epidemic  of  dysen- 
tery which  has  carried  off  hundreds  is  due  largely  to 
lack  of  proper  food  and  want  of  variety  of  food.  As 
I made  the  rounds  of  our  own  yards  yesterday  and 
visited  the  people  herded  in  one  of  the  dark  store- 
rooms of  our  Persian  Girls’  School,  it  seemed  to  me 
that  their  condition  of  cold,  hunger,  filth  and  sickness 
was  about  as  miserable  as  they  could  get  in  this 
world.  One  great  difference  that  was  apparent  in 
all  the  rooms  was  the  absence  of  small  children,  hun- 
dreds having  died  during  these  last  months. 

The  evangelistic  work  is  now  well  organized,  and 
everywhere  there  are  at  least  daily  meetings  for 
every  one.  The  women  workers  under  Miss  Lamme 
visit  outside  places.  Mrs.  McDowell,  with  native 
women,  also  visits  outside  places  where  there  are 
large  numbers  of  refugees  herded.  Mr.  McDowell 
tries  to  keep  the  preachers  at  work.  too. 

Last  week  a group  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  or 

24 


more  mountaineers  who  are  staying  at  Sengar,  two 
or  three  miles  from  the  city,  came  clown  with  one 
of  Kurdu’s  men,  asking  us  to  feed  them.  1 hey  said 
that  heretofore  they  had  been  provided  for  by  Kurdu, 
a koordish  chief,  for  whom  they  had  been  working, 
carrying  away  for  him  the  plunder  he  had  collected 
here,  and  that  now  he  wras  leaving  and  we  must  feed 
them.  We  put  them  off  several  times,  but  finally 
accepted  the  addiitonal  burden.  Every  one  who  gets 
tired  of  his  job  of  charity  or  responsibility  throws  it 
upon  us,  and  there  seems  no  end,  and  this  is  the 
seventh  week. 

Thursday,  February  18th. — Yesterday  afternoon  I 
went  out  to  the  College  compound  for  the  first  time 
since  Christmas.  We  had  to  drive  under  the  gallows 
at  the  city  gate.  It  creates  rather  unpleasant  feel- 
ings to  think  that  perhaps  some  of  our  friends  may 
be  suspended  there. 

Our  Mission  is  being  treated  with  more  considera- 
tion than  at  first,  and  we  are  hoping  that  perhaps 
the  Turkish  Consul  has  heard  from  Constantinople, 
and  that  our  own  government  has  been  exerting  in- 
fluence at  Berlin  and  Constantinople.  For  weeks 
we  have  had  no  word  from  the  outside  world;  but 
we  "Rest  in  Jehovah  and  wait  patiently  for  Hint." 

Friday,  February  iQth. — This  has  been  a snowy  day 
again.  The  people  have  been  making  it  a day  of 
fasting  and  prayer — as  if  every  day  wrere  not  a fast 
day ! 

Saturday,  February  zotli. — All  day  negotiations 
have  been  going  on  in  regard  to  the  English  bank- 
money.  When  Dr.  Shedd  and  Dr.  Packard  were 
called  to  the  Turkish  Consulate,  they  found  there  the 
former  Urumia  Consul,  who  had  fled  from  here  last 
fall  when  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey  was  first 
declared.  He  had  gone  south  to  Soujbulak.  It 
looks  as  if  he  were  perhaps  fleeing  now  in  this  direc- 
tion, which  would  mean  that  the  Russians  were  in 

25 


Soujbulak;  we  have  heard  this  report.  It  is  being 
reported  that  the  Koords  were  making  preparations 
to-day  for  leaving  here.  It  may  be  that  the  Consul’s 
haste  to  get  this  money  is  another  evidence  that  he 
is  expecting  to  leave  soon.  He  told  the  gentlemen 
to-day  that  he  thought,  as  Americans,  they  ought  to 
make  a contribution  toward  the  cause  of  Turkey. 
They  have  felt  that  a compromise  on  the  ten  thous- 
and is  the  best  way  out,  and  suggested  that  he  take 
two  thousand;  but  he  refused  to  take  less  than  five 
thousand,  and  promised  that  he  would  not  take  it 
before  to-morrow,  so  if  something  does  not  develop 
before  to-morrow  we  shall  probably  be  poorer  for 
that  amount.  We  are  hoping  that  it  may  be  taken 
without  any  show  of  force  or  violence.  Of  course, 
we  cannot  make  any  resistance. 

To-day  we  finished  going  over  all  the  bread  tickets, 
arranging  the  names  according  to  villages.  Then 
we  called  in  responsible  men  from  each  village  and 
went  over  the  lists,  to  find  out  those  who  would  be 
able  to  help  themselves  soon,  and  those  who  had 
reported  more  members  of  families  than  they  have. 
I am  sorry  to  say  that  we  found  scores  who  were 
cheating  in  various  ways,  and  now  we  have  to  get 
hold  of  all  of  them — a big  business  for  some  days  to 
come.  We  are  distributing  14,000-15,000  loaves  of 
about  ten  and  a half  ounces  each  day;  but  there  are 
so  many  getting  more  than  a loaf  each  that  there  are 
probably  not  more  than  eleven  thousand  persons 
receiving. 

An  epidemic  of  typhoid  has  broken  out  at  the  Col- 
lege among  the  refugees — twenty-seven  cases.  To- 
day, even  in  the  midst  of  troubles,  the  Evangelistic 
Board  met  to  consider  a reorganization  of.  the  work. 
When  the  people  are  able  to  return  to  the  villages, 
they  will  probably  have  to  settle  temporarily  in  a few 
of  the  larger  ones. 

Sunday,  February  2Tst. — To-day  there  are  three  or 
four  services  in  the  church  This  morning  it  was 

26 


packed  for  a communion  service  and  many  were 
turned  away.  Another  communion  service  is  ar- 
ranged for  this  afternoon,  and  then  again  next  Sun- 
day, to  give  an  opportunity  for  all  communicants. 

Tuesday,  February  23rd. — Last  night  one  of  the 
most  terrible  things  that  has  yet  happened,  occurred. 
In  the  evening  ten  or  a dozen  of  the  prisoners  from 
the  French  Mission,  taken  ten  days  or  more  ago  by 
the  Turkish  Consul,  were  discharged,  and  we  all  felt 
that  probably  the  rest  would  soon  be  set  free,  as  there 
was  no  special  charge  against  them.  But  this  morn- 
ing five  men,  two  of  them  Moslems,  were  found 
hanging  from  the  gallows  at  the  Koordish  Gate,  and 
forty-eight  others  were  shot  beyond  the  Charbosh 
Gate.  No  one  has  dared  to  go  out  yet  and  get  the 
bodies,  though  Dr.  Shedd  has  asked  permission  of 
the  Turkish  Consul.  For  two  days  we  had  felt  so 
much  more  hopeful,  but  to-dav  a terrible  fear  has 
fallen  on  the  people.  There  is  much  silent  weeping, 
but  little  violent  demonstration,  though  the  mothers, 
wives  and  families  of  the  murdered  men  are  here. 
The  question  in  everybody’s  mind  is,  “What  will  the 
Turks  do  next?”  Forty  or  fifty  shots  were  distinctly 
heard  in  the  night  between  one  and  two  o’clock,  but 
no  one  guessed  what  they  meant.  We  had  begun 
yesterday  to  take  bread  tickets  from  a few  of  the 
people  to  try  to  force  them  to  go  to  their  villages 
or  find  money  in  some  way  to  provide  for  themselves; 
but  nowr  they  are  too  frightened  to  leave  and  every- 
thing is  set  back  again.  Two  or  three  days  ago  the 
Turks  took  some  things  from  the  French  Mission 
property  here,  carpets,  etc.,  and  we  hear  that  they 
are  plundering  more  to-day.  Sunday  we  received  a 
card  from  Tabriz  saying  that  everything  was  quiet 
there,  and  that  $5,000  relief  had  been  received,  and 
Mr.  Labaree  was  going  to  the  Caucasus  to  relieve  the 
refugees  who  had  fled  from  Urumia  to  Russia. 

Wednesday,  February  24th. — The  French  mission- 
aries and  the  nine  nuns  were  very  much  alarmed  for 


their  personal  safety.  They  asked  that  one  of  our 
men  go  there  and  put  up  an  American  flag;  but,  of 
course,  we  could  not  do  that.  Yesterday  the  Turkish 
Consul  sent  word  that  if  we  wanted  the  bodies  of 
the  three  Christians  hanging  at  the  gate,  we  had  per- 
mission to  take  them.  Mr.  McDowell  and  Mr.  Allen 
went  with  some  Syrians,  took  down  the  bodies,  and 
buried  them.  There  has  been  a little  more  disorder 
than  usual,  and  the  people  are  terrified  again.  I have 
had  to  give  back  many  of  the  bread  tickets  that  we 
had  collected.  There  are  hundreds  of  people  who 
have  fields  and  vineyards,  but  who  cannot  borrow  a 
dollar.  These  tickets  are  really  promissory  notes 
which  they  have  signed,  promising  to  pay  later,  but 
we  need  cash  now,  and  our  bread  line  does  not  de- 
crease— rather,  increases.  I wonder  what  a trained 
Red  Cross  worker  would  do  with  a mob  that  will 
not  stand  in  line  or  stay  put  anywhere;  who,  when 
you  go  over  the  case  and  give  the  answer,  refuse  to 
take  it,  but  stand  about  and  weep  briny  tears  by  the 
hour.  They  have  no  sense  of  honor,  don’t  know  how 
to  tell  the  truth,  can’t  tell  the  same  story  twice,  and 
do  not  know  much  of  anything  except  that  their 
stomarchs  are  empty.  They  try  to  get  bread  in  the 
names  of  the  dead,  and  when  accused  of  evading  the 
truth,  will  declare  in  the  most  injured  tones,  “We 
wouldn’t  lie.”  There  is  much  that  would  be  funny 
in  these  investigations  if  it  did  not  get  monotonous. 

Saturday,  February  27th. — When  Mr.  McDowell 
returned  from  the  burial  of  those  shot  on  Jewish  Hill, 
he  reported  that  they  had  found  forty  bodies  and 
identified  all  but  five  .or  six. 

On  Wednesday  night,  a still  more  horrible  deed 
was  committed  at  Gulpashan.  This  village  and 
Iriawa  have  been  kept  partly  through  the  efforts  of 
a German;  but  on  Wednesday  night  a band  of  Per- 
sian volunteers  arriving  from  Salmas  or  beyond,  went 
there,  took  fiftv  men,  and,  according  to  reports,  shot 
them  in  the  gravevard  near  by.  Thev  then  plundered 

28  ' 


the  village,  took  girls  and  young  women,  outraged 
them,  and  acted  in  general  as  one  might  expect  Satan 
to  do  when  turned  loose. 

The  horror  and  sadness  of  everything  has  been 
brought  nearer  to  us  in  the  death  of  Mile.  Madelaine 
Perrochet,  a young  Swiss  girl  who  came  with  the 
Coans  four  months  ago  to  teach  the  missionary  chil- 
dren. She  was  only  twenty-one,  so  bright,  so  pretty, 
that  we  had  all  learned  to  love  her  dearly.  She  spoke 
English  well,  and,  of  course,  French  and  German. 
She  died  Thursday,  after  dinner,  and  yesterday,  Fri- 
day, we  had  the  funeral  service  in  Dr.  Goan's  living 
room,  led  by  Mr.  McDowell.  We  could  not  take  her 
out  to  our  little  cemetery  at  Seir,  so  she  was  buried 
in  Dr.  Goan’s  garden,  just  at  the  right  of  the  en- 
trance to  the  long  grape-arbor.  In  his  prayer  Mr. 
McDowell  used  the  words,  "We  are  not  only  walking 
'in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,’  but  we  are 
dwelling  there  in  these  weeks.” 

Just  now  two  of  the  young  Syrians  who  are  the 
chief  men  in  helping  with  the  bread,  came  in  and 
told  me  that  they  had  received  warning  secretly  that 
they  had  better  leave  here  and  hide  with  some 
friendly  Moslems,  as  the  Turkish  Consul  is  going  to 
take  out  all  the  young  men  from  our  yards  and  other 
places  in  the  city  and  kill  them — "wipe  them  out.” 
I cannot  believe  that  it  can  be  true,  but  we  cannot 
know.  If  they  enter  our  yards  by  force  and  murder 
men,  then  there  is  no  further  safety  for  any  of  us. 
As  one  of  these  young  men  just  said.  "Let  us  com- 
mit everything  into  the  hands  of  God,  and  then  wait 
and  be  ready  for  whatever  comes.” 

Typhus  is  raging  at  the  College.  Yesterday  there 
were  seventy  cases  at  the  College  Compound,  and 
over  a hundred  others  on  diet,  with  the  probability 
of  a large  part  of  them  developing  tvphoid.  It  is 
impossible  to  take  care  of  so  many  cases  or  properly 
feed  them  under  such  conditions.  At  the  hospital 
they  are  buying  all  the  milk  and  mesta  (matzoon) 
they  can  get.  Mrs.  Cochran  has  had  charge  of  the 

29 


feeding  there,  as  well  as  doing  much  else,  and  yester- 
day she  went  to  bed;  to-day  there  are  symptoms  of 
typhoid.  Mrs.  Coan  and  Miss  Coan  took  care  of 
Mile.  Perrochet,  and  the  last  week  or  two  had  the 
help  of  a Syrian  woman  wdio  has  had  a nurse’s  course 
in  America,  Miss  George.  She  has  proved  very 
efficient  and  a great  help  and  comfort. 

Saturday  Night. — There  was  a great  deal  of  anxiety 
lest  something  happen  here;  but  we  woke  Sunday 
morning  in  safety  and  saw  a rainbow  in  the  northern 
sky,  though  there  was  no  rain.  The  reports  of  Mr. 
Allen  from  Gulpashan  were  too  black  to  be  written. 
The  soldiers  sent  out  by  the  Consul  to  protect  the 
villages  against  Koords  and  Moslem  looters  left 
unviolated  hardly  a woman  or  girl  of  those  remain- 
ing in  the  village,  and  a number  of  girls  were  carried 
off.  It  seemed  quite  apparent  that  they  understood 
that  the  whole  business  of  protecting  was  to  be  a 
farce.  When  Sunday  morning  Mr.  Allen  returned 
and  wanted  to  bring  people  with  him,  he  was  not  per- 
mitted. Those  who  had  been  murdered  in  the  ceme- 
tery a few  nights  previous  had  been  buried  under  a 
few  inches  of  earth,  and  when  he  wanted  to  have 
them  uncovered  to  identify  and  bury  deeper,  he  was 
refused.  The  soldiers  had  had  them  all  sit  down  on 
the  ground  and  then  shot  at  them.  They  then  looked 
them  over,  and  any  who  were  found  to  be  breathing 
were  shot  the  second  time.  The  only  reason  for  all 
this  was  that  they  bore  the  name  of  “Christian.” 
What  has  the  Christian  world  to  say? 

Mr.  McDowell  went  to  Iriawa  and  found  similar 
conditions.  We  were  very  glad  to  see  him  and  Mr. 
Allen  safely  back,  for  they  undoubtedly  were  in  jeo- 
pardy themselves  and  were  treated  insolently  by  the 
soldiers. 

Mrs.  Cochran  is  better,  and  we  feel  now  will  not 
have  typhoid.  It  is  a tremendous  relief.  Only  seven 
died  here  in  this  quarter  yesterday.  The  death  list 
here  has  passed  the  thousand  mark,  and,  including 

30 


the  Boys’  School  yard  and  the  College,  fifteen  hun- 
dred. All  the  past  week  three  young  men  and  myself 
have  been  kept  busy  all  morning  and  into  the  middle 
of  the  afternoon  examining  bread  tickets,  hearing 
pleas,  and  giving  out  new  tickets  as  the  new  refugees 
have  come  in.  The  last  several  days  we  have  pur- 
chased, exclusive  of  the  College,  nearly  ten  thousand 
pounds  of  bread  daily. 

Friday,  March  $th. — Mrs.  Cochran  has  typhoid,  but 
so  far  in  a light  form.  Mrs.  Coan  and  Miss  Coan 
are  taking  her  work  as  best  they  can,  and  caring  for 
her,  too,  with  the  help  of  the  Syrian  nurse,  Miss 
George.  Dr.  Packard  has  been  in  bed  two  or  three 
davs,  but  we  do  not  know  if  it  is  typhoid  or  not.  Mr. 
Allen  went  to  Gulpashan  with  permission  from  the 
Turkish  Consul  to  burv  those  who  had  been  mur- 
dered. He  found  fifty  bodies.  When  he  came  back, 
a crowd  of  sixty-four,  mostly  women  and  girls,  came 
with  him.  Our  yards  and  rooms,  including  the 
church,  are  crowded  again,  but  with  cleaner  people. 
Most  of  the  mountaineers  are  out.  Two  families  of 
mountaineers  who  are  friendly  with  the  Koords 
started  out  yesterday  for  their  homes.  It  is  spring 
now,  and  time  for  plowing  and  sowing,  and  unless 
the  people  can  soon  get  to  their  villages  there  will 
be  a dearth  of  wheat  and  other  grain  next  year. 
There  are  repeated  reports  of  the  approach  of  the 
Russian  army,  and  some  Germans  here  have  said 
that  they  were  soon  expecting  to  go  on  a journey. 
If  the  Turks  should  have  to  flee,  there  is  no  telling 
what  they  might  do  before  going;  but  we  do  not  dare 
to  let  our  hopes  of  deliverance  rise,  for  it  makes  the 
long  wait  harder. 

A few  days  ago  the  ex-Turkish  Consul  sent  word 
that  if  there  were  any  girls  held  captive  that  we 
wanted  to  get,  he  would  find  them  for  us.  That 
looks  as  if  there  had  been  a quarrel — or  perhaps  it 
is  a trick  to  trip  us  into  being  unwise.  It  takes  the 
wisdom  of  the  serpent  as  well  as  the  simplicity  of 
the  dove! 


3i 


Saturday,  March  6th. — Dr.  Packard  has  developed 
typhoid.  There  is  only  Mrs.  Packard  to  take  care  of 
him,  and  she  is  far  from  strong,  and  there  are  four 
lively  boys  to  care  for  and  keep  out  of  mischief  and 
danger.  Since  Mlle.’s  death  it  leaves  the  children’s 
education  on  the  mothers,  and  Mrs.  Packard  has  been 
trying  to  take  the  bulk  of  it. 

This  morning  I made  out  the  second  month’s  report 
of  the  bread  funds  which  have  passed  through  my 
hands.  So  far  we  have  spent  approximately  $7,500. 
Over  $600  have  been  collected  in  sales,  which  leaves 
nearly  $7,000  debt  for  us.  This  does  not  include 
College  or  Boy’s  School  yard.  All  of  this  has  been 
spent  for  dry  bread  alone,  two  hundred  twenty-three 
and  a half  tons,  all  brought  in  on  the  backs  of  carriers. 
About  one  hundred  fifty  pounds  is  a man’s  load.  This 
month  we  have  distributed  four  and  a quarter  tons  a 
day. 

Evening. — There  is  considerable  fear  to-night 
among  the  Christians  that  the  Turks  may  strike  a blow 
before  they  go.  We  have  twenty-five  extra  guards 
of  Persian  soldiers.  All  day  Moslem  villagers  have 
been  fleeing  to  the  city  in  fear  of  what  the  Russians 
may  do  when  they  come.  We  do  not  know  how  near 
they  are,  for  we  have  no  means  of  communication. 
It  would  seem  strange  to  lie  down  in  quiet  and  peace, 
knowing  that  all  fear  and  terror  to  these  poor  people 
were  passed. 

Sunday,  March  yth. — Dr.  Packard  is  very  sick  with 
typhoid ; yesterday  his  temperature  was  105.  He 
seems  quieter  to-day.  Dr.  Pera,  former  hospital  assis- 
tant, has  promised  to  take  care  of  him  every  day  from 
9 A.  M.  to  4 P.  M.,  and  Mrs.  Packard  will  be  night 
nurse.  Mrs.  Cochran  seems  to  be  getting  along 
quietly.  Thirty  cases  of  typhoid  are  reported  in  one 
of  the  houses  in  the  suburbs,  which  a few  days  ago 
we  filled  up  with  refugees  brought  from  the  College 
Compound.  They  probably  brought  the  germ  with 
them.  The  only  reason  it  is  not  raging  here  is  the 
eternal  vigilance  of  Mr.  McDowell  in  looking  after 

32 


sanitary  conditions  and  the  water  courses.  He  has 
frequently  to  appeal  to  the  governor  to  get  donkeys 
for  carrying  off  refuse,  though  he  pays  well.  As  the 
church  is  full  of  refugees,  two  meetings  are  held  daily 
in  the  Seminary  yard.  Kasha  Moshi  of  Geogtapa 
makes  a fine  out-door  preacher. 

Just  now,  as  I came  from  dinner,  a woman  met  me 
leading  a little  girl  by  the  hand,  and  in  her  most  wheed- 
ling tones  tried  to  present  her  to  me  as  a gift,  saying 
she  was  her  great-grandchild.  I laughed  and  said  I 
already  had  one  hundred  such  gifts.  She  felt  that  I 
was  not  properly  appreciative ! There  are  scores  of 
people  who  would  like  to  dump  their  responsibilities 
under  these  conditions.  We  have  had  a number  of 
cases  of  relatives  deserting  old  and  helpless  women 
and  leaving  them  for  us  to  care  for  until  they  died. 

Monday,  March  Sth. — Yesterday  there  was  general 
fasting  and  prayer  until  noon  for  Dr.  Packard’s  and 
Mrs.  Cochran’s  recovery.  There  is  a beginning  of 
what  we  hope  may  be  a deep  and  permanent  spiritual 
awakening.  In  such  times  one  lives  in  the  presence 
of  eternal  realities,  and  Heaven  seems  quite  near.  It 
is  marvelous  how  the  Word  of  God  speaks  to  us  in 
every  condition  and  experience  through  which  we 
pass. 

Tuesday,  March  g\h. — On  Sunday  a Mohammedan 
orator  made  a speech  in  a garden  in  Dilgusha  to  a 
crowd  of  several  thousand  people,  practically  all 
Moslems.  He  said  that  Italy  and  Persia  had  joined 
in  the  alliance  with  Germany,  Austria  and  Turkey, 
and.  of  course,  are  in  the  way  of  victory.  America 
had  taken  no  part  in  this  war,  but  is  doing  good  all 
over  the  world  without  regard  to  race  or  religion,  car- 
ing for  the  sick  and  wounded,  feeding  the  hungry  and 
befriending  the  needy.  The  American  missionaries 
here,  he  said,  have  done  and  are  doing  this,  and  every- 
one should  honor  them  and  stand  up  for  them.  At 
this  there  was  great  applause. 

Last  night  a body  of  Askars  entered  the  house  of 
33 


Dr.  , whose  yard  adjoins  ours,  and  demanded 

Mar  Elea,  a Russian  Bishop,  who  has  been  in  hiding 
these  last  weeks.  They  didn’t  find  him,  but  took 
about  two  hundred  dollars’  worth  of  money  and 
jewelry  and  frightened  the  people  nearly  to  death. 
Our  watchman  called  Mr.  McDowell  and  Mr.  Allen, 
and  they  tried  to  go  over  to  the  help  of  the  women. 
Mr.  McDowell  climbed  the  ladder  from  this  side  to  go 
over  into  their  yard;  but  at  the  top  met  a gun  in  the 
hands  of  an  Askar,  who  demanded  his  retreat.  Mr. 
McDowell,  out  of  respect  for  the  gun,  didn’t  insist  on 
having  his  way.  That  yard  is  not  in  our  hands  and  we 
have  no  flag  there,  so,  of  course,  we  couldn’t  do  any- 
thing. This  has  scared  the  people  again.  This  morn- 
ing one  woman  brought  me  some  jewelry  and  papers 
to  keep  for  her.  She  had  been  in  America  and  only 
returned  last  spring,  and  was  bewailing  her  stupidity 
in  returning.  She  says  she  is  only  waiting  for  a way 
to  open  for  her  to  go  back,  never  to  return.  Hundreds 
are  saying  the  same  thing,  and  I think  there  will  be  a 
large  emigration  to  America  when  the  way  opens.  I 
wouldn’t  mind  emigrating  myself  for  a while ! 

Friday,  March  12th. — We  cannot  complain  of  the 
monotony  of  life  for  these  last  two  or  three  days.  It 
was  on  Monday  night  that  the  Turks  tried  to  get  the 
Bishop,  but  he  escaped  over  the  church  roof.  The 
next  afternoon  they  suddenly  appeared  again,  and  this 
time  found  him  hiding  on  the  church  roof  behind  a 
parapet.  He  tried  to  get  down  an  old  ladder  standing 
by  the  wall,  but  the  Askar  who  was  at  the  other  end 
of  the  roof,  raised  his  gun  and  told  him  he  would  shoot 
if  he  attempted  to  run,  so  he  was  captured.  It  is  said 
that  he  had  two  thousand  tomans  in  gold  and  Russian 
paper  money  on  his  person.  This,  of  course,  was 
taken.  The  most  unfortunate  incident  of  that  capture 
was  the  arrest  at  the  same  time  of  Dr.  Lokman.  At 
Mr.  McDowell’s  request,  Dr.  Lokman  (Syrian)  had 

gone  over  the  wall  into  Dr. ’s  house  to  find  out 

if  there  were  any  typhoid  cases  there,  and  was  caught 
by  the  Askars.  Our  mission  at  once  began  to  make 

34 


efforts  to  secure  their  release.  The  Turkish  Consul 
demanded  $1,000  for  Dr.  Lokman  and  $10,000  for 
the  Bishop.  In  the  evening  he  sent  word  that  unless 
they  were  immediately  redeemed  they  would  be  shot 
at  midnight.  lie  ordered  the  Persian  governor  to  send 
eight  men  to  assist  at  the  shooting.  In  the  meantime 
they  had  gotten  hold  of  another  man  or  two.  When 
word  came  about  Dr.  Lokman  there  was  some  hustling 
to  find  the  money.  “Brides”  (young  married  women) 
were  asked  to  give  up  the  gold  pieces  from  their 
dowry,  and  in  a short  time  the  $1,000  was  sent. 
When  Dr.  Lokman  was  notified  of  his  release  he  was 
sleeping  soundly  without  any  realization  of  the  doom 
hanging  over  him.  When  he  reached  our  yards  and 
his  family  and  friends  congratulated  him,  he  felt  like 
one  raised  from  the  dead.  Just  as  soon  as  he  heard 
that  the  others  were  still  in  danger,  he  said,  “Well,  we 
must  try  to  do  something  to  release  them.”  He  is  one 
of  the  most  prominent  Syrians  here  and  influential 
with  the  Persian  government.  From  the  first  day  of 
these  troubles  he  has  been  on  hand  to  help  in  govern- 
mental affairs  in  every  way  possible.  All  day  yester- 
day efforts  were  being  made  to  get  money  to  redeem 
the  others. 

These  last  two  nights  our  yards  have  been  overflow- 
ing with  people  from  the  Christian  quarter  here,  and 
already  the  Moslems  from  the  villages  are  crowding 
into  the  city  for  fear  of  the  Russians.  As  one  of  our 
bakers  said  yesterday,  “The  city  gates  cannot  let  them 
in  fast  enough.”  The  city  is  in  a panic  for  fear  of 
what  the  Russians  will  do  to  the  Moslems  when  they 
arrive.  Heaven  grant  that  they  will  act  in  the  spirit 
of  Christ  and  not  of  Mohammed ! Everywhere  the 
Moslems  are  now  anxious  to  show  themselves  friends 
of  Christians.  David  gives  expression  to  my  senti- 
ments concerning  the  wicked  in  Ps.  59. 

The  Germans,  I understand,  have  already  left,  except 
one  of  the  leaders,  and  he  is  ready  to  go  in  haste. 
Yesterday  I had  to  stay  in  bed  with  a headache,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  the  very  air  was  vibrating  with 
expectation  and  excitement.  Ten  thousand  times  a 

35 


day  the  petition  arises,  “O  Lord,  deliver  us.”  Ten 
weeks  to-morrow ! It  seems  impossible  to  hold  out 
much  longer.  “O  Lord,  deliver  us  from  the  hand  of 
the  wicked.”  Dr.  Packard  is  still  quite  sick.  Mrs. 
Cochran  seems  to  be  getting  along  slowly.  They  have 
so  many  cases  of  typhoid  at  the  College  that  they  have 
put  up  the  big  tent  in  the  school  yard  there  for  a 
hospital. 

Tuesday,  March  16th.— To-day  our  hearts  are 
heavy  and  sorrowful.  Dr.  Packard  is  very  sick 
indeed,  and  it  seems  now  as  if  Miss  Coan  has  typhoid 
or  typhus,  whichever  this  sickness  is.  Mrs.  Cochran 
appears  to  be  getting  along  all  right.  We  want  Dr. 
Vanneman  from  Tabriz,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  way 
to  get  a message  through  to  him.  Dr.  Shedd  asked 
the  Turkish  Consul  to  help  us  get  a messenger 
through,  but  he  said  he  couldn’t.  The  Russians  are 
between  Urumia  and  Tabriz.  We  have  twenty-five 
or  thirty  cases  of  typhoid  here  in  this  compound.  Mr. 
McDowell  is  trying  to  empty  a few  rooms  to  put  the 
sick  in,  but  it  is  very  difficult. 

Last  night  there  was  great  fear  again  in  Mart 
Maryam  lest  the  new  arrivals  might  devise  some  new 
evil  for  them,  and  many  wanted  to  crowd  into  our 
yard,  but  every  place  is  full.  We  are  feeding  15,000 
persons  daily,  one  loaf  each.  A note  by  secret  messen- 
ger came  from  Dr.  Vanneman  a few  days  ago,  saying 
that  they  had  received  $6,000  for  relief.  This  means 
a great  deal,  but  it  will  pay  only  a third  of  the  debt 
we  already  have.  The  Turks  still  hold  Shamasha 
Lazar  and  Mar  Elea  (Bishop)  for  a big  ransom.  Our 
funds  are  getting  low,  and  Mr.  Muller  has  borrowed 
some  money  at  24%  interest.  Last  week  our  hopes 
of  deliverance  were  high,  but  hope  so  long  deferred 
makes  the  heart  grow  faint.  Mr.  McDowell  was  try- 
ing to  get  some  sick  people  out  of  the  big  school-room 
when  he  saw  a tired  and  weary  woman,  with  a baby  in 
her  arms,  sitting  in  one  of  the  seats,  and  said  to  her, 
“Where  do  you  stay?”  She  said,  “Just  here.”  ”How 
long  have  you  been  here?”  “Since  the  beginning  (two 

36 


months),”  she  replied.  “How  do  you  sleep  at  night?” 
“I  lay  the  baby  on  the  desk  in  front  of  me,  and  I have 
this  post  at  the  back  to  lean  against.  This  is  a very 
good  place.  Thank  you  very  much.” 

The  men  don’t  dare  to  go  outside  our  yards  for 
fear  of  being  arrested  and  held  for  ransom.  One  of 
the  Syrian  physicians  was  asked  by  a missionary  to 
go  outside  and  see  some  sick.  He  laughed  and  said, 
“I’ll  go  if  you  will  pay  the  bill.” 

Thursday,  March  18th. — It  is  such  a relief  to  have 
Dr.  Packard  come  to  himself  again,  though  he  is  very 
weak.  Miss  Coan’s  fever  still  continues,  and  Miss 
Lamme  has  gone  to  the  College  to  help  there.  This 
morning  Mr.  McDowell  is  down  with  fever,  but  we 
hope  it  is  only  malaria.  Shamasha  Lazar,  who  has 
been  a prisoner  for  a week  at  the  Turkish  Consulate, 
was  released  on  payment  of  one  thousand  tomans  cash 
on  the  condition  that  he  find  the  other  $2,000  within 
two  days. 

If  there  was  mail  or  some  other  way  open  to  Tabriz, 
we  could  sell  orders  on  Dr.  Vanneman,  our  Mission 
Treasurer  in  Tabriz,  but  the  bankers  will  not  buy  such 
orders  now  because  they  can’t  dispose  of  them  until 
a way  to  Tabriz  is  opened.  Day  before  yesterday  we 
tried  to  make  a bargain  with  our  twenty  or  more  Mo- 
hammedan bakers,  who  are  supplying  us  with  about 
six  tons  of  bread  daily,  to  let  us  have  it  on  twenty 
days’  credit.  They  agreed  to  do  it  on  condition  that 
at  the  end  of  ten  days  we  would  pay  half ; but  after 
they  left  here  they  agreed  among  themselves  that  they 
would  not  deliver  bread  yesterday,  though  they  didn’t 
tell  us.  In  the  morning,  when  we  found  that  no  bread 
was  coming,  we  sent  out  and  got  other  bakers  to 
deliver  for  cash.  When  our  regular  bakers  found  we 
were  buying  elsewhere,  they  came  back,  and  after  a 
long  discussion  they  promised  to  deliver  for  twenty 
days,  if  we  would  pay  half  every  five  days.  So  it 
stands ; we  will  see  if  they  stick  to  their  bargain.  For- 
tunately, yesterday  we  had  half  a day’s  supply  on 
hand,  and  managed  to  buy  enough  to  finish  out.  There 

37 


is  a cash  famine,  and  anyone  who  has  any  money 
wants  to  hold  on  to  it  in  such  uncertain  times. 

This  morning  a little  after  five,  we  were  aroused  by 
shouts  and  a commotion  near  by.  The  Askars  with 
their  officers  had  entered  the  English  mission  yard  by 
climbing  a ladder  from  the  street  over  the  wall  into 

the  yard  of  a Mr.  , who  is  a Syrian,  but  an 

English  subject.  The  watchman  gave  the  alarm,  and 
Mr.  Muller  and  Mr.  Allen  were  soon  on  the  spot.  Of 
course  they  couldn’t  do  anything  but  reassure  the 
women.  Eight  or  ten  men  were  arrested  and  taken 
away  probably  to  be  held  for  ransom.  That  property 
has  been  connected  with  ours  from  the  beginning  of 
these  troubles,  and  the  American  flag  has  been  over 
the  entrance.  Mr.  Allen  said  to  the  officer,  “You  don’t 
intend  to  respect  the  American  flag?”  He  replied, 
“The  Turkish  flag  is  also  there.”  (It  is  under  the 
American  flag.)  This  makes  one  feel  doubtful  for 
the  safety  of  our  own  yards.  It  is  wonderful  how 
quiet  these  thousands  of  people  can  keep  while  such 
things  are  going  on.  A number  of  women  and  girls 
sleep  in  the  parlor  adjoining  my  room,  and  I opened 
the  door  and  told  them  not  to  leave  the  room.  They 
said,  “No,  we  are  only  dressing”;  but  it  was  evident 
that  they  were  trembling  with  fear;  and  this  is  the 
state  we  have  lived  in  for  eleven  weeks. 

One  of  the  most  pitiful  objects  of  humanity  that  I 
have  ever  yet  seen  came  into  the  room  to  ask  for  a 
ticket ; a boy  of  about  twelve  or  fourteen  wasted  to  a 
mummy-like  skeleton  by  hunger  and  sickness,  so  weak 
he  could  hardly  stand  or  speak,  unbathed  for  these 
many  months.  I asked  where  he  had  been  staying.  He 
said,  “In  the  school-room.” 

The  Turks  have  demanded  ten  thousand  suits  of 
shirts  and  pajamas  for  the  army.  Eight  thousand 
were  demanded  from  the  Moslem  women,  and  two 
thousand  from  the  Christian  or  Syrian  women.  As 
the  latter  are  practically  all  here  with  us  and  in  the 
Christian  quarter,  it  fell  upon  the  missionaries  to  take 
the  responsibility,  so  Miss  Schoebel  took  charge.  So 
far  fifty-five  bolts  of  calico  have  been  sent,  and  Miss 


Schoebel  gave  out  to  responsible  women  the  material, 
and  they  in  turn  found  others  to  help  with  the  sewing 
(mostly  by  hand)  and  about  eight  hundred  of  the 
shirts  are  ready.  How  would  you  like  to  sit  down 
and  make  clothes  for  Turks  and  Koords  who  had 
robbed  you,  burned  your  homes,  murdered  your  hus- 
bands, brothers,  and  fathers,  dishonored  your  women, 
and  carried  your  girls  into  captivity  ? 

Saturday,  March  20th. — The  prisoners  taken  from 
the  English  Mission  yards  by  the  Turks  were  kept 
about  twenty-four  hours,  examined,  and  to  the  great 
and  unexpected  joy  of  everyone  were  set  free  without 
ransom.  The  Turks  said  they  had  heard  that  a 
Russian  spy  was  being  kept  in  that  yard,  and,  when 
they  found  no  evidence  of  this,  set  the  men  free. 
Another  thing  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  it. 
Night  before  last  several  Turkish  soldiers  who  were 
sick  with  typhoid  went  to  the  College  compound. 
When  informed  that  there  was  absolutely  no  place 
for  them,  they  returned  to  the  Consulate,  which  is  in 
the  former  Russian  Mission.  The  Shahbenda  then 
sent  for  Dr.  Shedd.  It  was  after  nightfall  and  we 
didn’t  know  why  he  was  sent  for,  but  were  fearful 
lest  another  blow  was  about  to  fall  upon  us.  But  he 
asked  him  if  we  would  be  willing  to  care  for  their 
sick,  a dozen  or  more,  who  have  typhoid.  He  was  told 
that  there  was  no  room  in  the  hospital  or  College 
building  adjoining,  which  are  already  crowded  full 
of  sick,  but  that  we  would  do  what  we  could.  This 
probably  had  something  to  do  with  the  dismissal  of 
the  prisoners.  For  two  days  no  other  arrests  have 
been  made,  and  only  the  Bishop  is  now  a prisoner. 
The  last  ransom  they  asked  for  him  was  fifteen  thou- 
sand tomans.  The  Shahbenda  has  said  that  he  is 
going  to  take  down  all  the  American  flags  except  the 
one  over  our  main  entrance.  We  have  several  over 
properties  adjoining  ours  which  are  full  of  refugees, 
and  several  of  the  naturalized  citizens  have  American 
flags  up. 

We  are  happy  this  morning  that  all  our  sick  are 
better.  Mr.  McDowell  was  up  yesterday  and  Miss 

39 


Schoebel  has  no  fever  this  morning,  so  it  looks  as  if 
she  had  only  malaria.  Mrs.  Cochran  is  getting  along 
finely ; Dr.  Packard  we  hope  has  passed  the  crisis ; 
Miss  Coan  seems  to  be  having  a light  case.  Our 
rooms,  hallways,  and  every  place  are  crowded  to  the 
limit  again.  The  men  are  afraid  to  stay  anywhere  else 
for  fear  of  arrest.  The  Turks  have  given  out  word 
that  several  thousand  troops  are  coming,  and  are 
demanding  houses  in  Mart  Maryam,  and  those  put 
out  have  nowhere  else  to  go. 

We  are  having  trouble  getting  bread,  as  the  bakers 
refuse  to  deliver  without  cash  on  the  spot.  They  say 
the  “blue  eyes”  (Russians)  will  return,  “and  then  you 
will  not  pay  us.”  Mr.  Muller  will  try  to-day  to  get 
wheat  on  several  months’  credit,  and  we  will  use  that 
instead  of  cash  if  possible.  I am  realizing  what  a 
wonderful  thing  money  is,  and  what  a dreadful  thing 
it  is  to  be  without  it,  especially  under  such  circum- 
stances. As  long  as  we  could  pay  cash  we  couldn’t 
stop  some  of  the  bakers  from  bringing  more  than  we 
wanted.  We  feel,  with  so  many  of  our  number  sick, 
so  many  others  busy  caring  for  them,  the  end  of  our 
money  in  sight,  and  our  physical  strength  almost 
exhausted,  that  surely  deliverance  must  be  near. 
Through  eleven  weeks  we  have  looked  for  it  in  vain. 

I just  paid  a visit  to  the  school  dining-room,  which 
is  one  of  our  hospital  rooms.  If  there  is  another  spot 
on  this  earth  of  more  concentrated  human  misery,  I 
hope  I may  never  know  it.  One  boy  had  just  died. 
The  mother  looked  up  at  me  so  pitifully,  and  said, 
“Lady,  he  is  dead.”  Another  baby  was  lying  on  the 
floor  dying,  under  the  influence  of  khash-khash 
(opium).  The  mother  has  no  milk  for  lack  of  food, 
and  the  babv  is  dying  of  starvation.  The  mother  said, 
“Khanum,  I am  so  sick,  what  shall  I do?”  I could 
only  reply,  “I  do  not  know.”  Twenty  others  were 
lying  on  the  floor,  without  bedding,  in  various  stages 
of  misery,  groaning,  weeping  and  appealing  for  help. 
One  child  was  lying  on  his  father’s  coat  with  a hard 
bundle  under  his  head,  with  the  marks  of  slow  star- 
vation upon  him.  To-morrow  he  too  will  probably  be 

40 


gone,  and  we  shall  thank  God  that  it  is  so.  They  are 
so  many,  our  strength  and  our  means  are  so  limited, 
the  rooms  are  so  crowded,  we  can  do  little  for  them 
and  death  is  their  best  friend.  One  of  our  Bible 
women  is  lying  here,  with  her  two  daughters  on  one 
side  of  her  and  her  sister  on  the  other.  Her  boy  died 
a few  weeks  ago.  When  I spoke  to  her  she  tried  to 
raise  herself  up  and  tell  me  about  some  of  the  other 
sick  in  the  room.  We  have  been  furnishing  matting 
for  the  sick  to  lie  on,  and  using  Mr.  Sterrett’s  supply 
of  wood  for  fires  in  the  sick  room;  the  rest  have  had 
to  do  without  fires  except  the  few  who  have  been  able 
to  get  wood  for  their  rooms.  In  one  of  the  typhoid 
rooms  yesterday  I noticed  a pile  of  charred  wood  in 
the  corner  and  asked  about  it.  They  said  they  had 
sent  to  the  village  and  brought  in  the  half-burned 
beams  of  their  homes  for  fuel.  That  was  all  that  was 
left  of  their  house,  except  a pile  of  mud.  Others 
have  done  the  same  thing. 

Yesterday  Rabi  Nanoo,  one  of  our  Bible  women, 
went  out  as  usual  to  hold  meetings  in  the  places  where 
large  numbers  of  refugees,  mostly  mountain  people, 
are  huddled  together.  She  was  stopped  in  the  street 
by  an  Askar  who  demanded  her  long  coat.  She  told 
him  she  had  been  stripped  of  everything  when  she  first 
fled  from  her  village,  and  that  the  coat  had  since  been 
given  her  by  one  of  the  missionary  ladies.  He  said, 
nevertheless,  it  was  not  necessary  for  her,  and 
demanded  that  she  take  it  off.  Just  then  another 
Askar  came  up  who  had  been  a guard  at  our  gate. 
He  interfered,  saying  that  he  knew  her  as  a deaconess 
who  went  out  every  day  to  preach  to  the  people,  and 
she  was  allowed  to  go  on  with  her  coat. 

A while  ago  I took  some  soft-boiled  eggs  and  several 
pieces  of  bread  to  the  sick  ones  in  the  dining-room, 
and  to  Rabi  Surra  and  her  family.  They  are  very 
grateful  for  everything.  I’ve  no  doubt  if  they  were 
properly  fed  most  of  them  would  be  up  in  a week. 

Sunday,  March  21st. — Yesterday  Mr.  McDowell 
called  a meeting  of  all  the  native  doctors  to  try  to  get 

41 


them  to  help  in  the  responsibility  of  caring  for  the 
increasing  number  of  typhoid  cases.  There  are  a 
number  of  doctors  who  do  practically  nothing  and  find 
excuses  when  anything  is  asked  of  them.  It  is  hard 
to  understand  how  they  can  spend  hours  every  day 
sitting  in  their  rooms  or  walking  up  and  down  the 
pavement  here  while  they  might  be  doing  something 
to  help  in  the  care  of  the  scores  of  sick  people  and  in 
the  effort  Mr.  McDowell  is  making  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  health  of  the  community.  Our  assistant 
physician,  Dr.  Daniel  Werda,  is  sick  with  typhoid, 
and  Dr.  David  of  Soujbolak,  who  went  out  to  the 
hospital  to  help,  has  been  brought  home  sick.  Dr. 
Pera,  our  former  assistant,  is  at  the  College  compound 
now,  helping  with  the  sick  missionaries  and  a few 
special  cases,  and  Dr.  Joseph  Khoshaba  has  consented 
to  go  out  there  to  help.  Dr.  Theo.  Mar  Yosep  has 
been  our  stand-by  from  the  very  beginning,  and  is 
the  only  native  doctor  here  in  the  city  yards  who  has 
really  worked.  He  has  been  on  hand  every  day. 

Tuesday,  March  23rd. — Sunday  evening  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Persian  New  Year,  Noruz,  and  as  soon 
as  the  cannon  went  off  to  announce  that  the  New 
Year  had  begun  there  was  a great  firing  of  guns  and 
torpedoes,  more  than  usual.  It  was  kept  up  for  half 
an  hour  or  more,  and  many  of  the  people  were  badly 
frightened,  thinking  perhaps  a battle  was  on.  We 
heard  the  next  day  that  the  Shahbenda  was  scared, 
not  knowing  what  it  was. 

The  Shahbenda  sent  forty-eight  bolts  of  muslin  for 
pajamas,  and  the  women  under  Miss  Schoebel’s  direc- 
tions are  now  sewing  on  them,  having  finished  eight 
hundred  and  fifty  shirts. 

The  smells  in  our  backyards  are  almost  unbearable. 
I can’t  open  my  back  window  at  all.  The  sun  is  quite 
hot  and  dries  things  up : it  also  brings  out  the  awful 
smells.  Last  night  the  Shahbenda  gave  us  permission 
to  send  a messenger  to  Tabriz  for  Dr.  Vanneman. 
Our  sick  are  all  getting  along  fairly  well.  Dr.  Packard 
has  passed  the  crisis  and  each  day  seems  a little  bit 

42 


better.  There  are  about  twenty-five  Turks  in  the 
hospital  now. 

Thursday,  March  25th. — We  are  trying  to  send 
away  some  of  the  people  by  taking  their  bread  tickets 
to-day;  but  we  cannot  give  them  any  assurance  of 
safety.  They  are  so  crowded  here,  and  there  is  so 
much  sickness,  and  money  is  so  scarce,  that  it  seems 
the  lesser  of  two  evils  to  send  some  of  the  people 
away  even  though  a few  be  killed. 

Yesterday  we  gave  each  of  the  sixty  sick  persons 
in  the  school  dining-room  a soft  boiled  egg,  and  in  the 
afternoon  tea,  which  was  served  by  two  or  three  school 
girls.  Sugar  and  tea  are  so  expensive,  about  three 
times  the  regular  price,  that  it  costs  about  $1.50  just 
to  treat  that  one  room  to  tea.  The  big  school-room  is 
in  just  as  bad  a condition  as  the  dining-room,  only 
with  so  many  more  tenants  that  it  seems  impracticable 
to  do  anything  there.  I’ve  no  doubt  that  if  hundreds 
of  these  people  were  properly  fed  for  a week  they 
would  be  on  their  feet,  but  it  is  beyond  our  means  and 
our  strength.  Just  now  the  voice  of  Kasha  Mooshi 
Dooman  of  Geogtapa  comes  to  me  through  the  open 
window  of  the  paved  school  court  where  he  is 
preaching.  Twice  a day  preaching  exercises  are  held 
in  the  school  yard,  and  besides  there  are  a number  of 
preachers  and  women  who  go  around  daily  to  rooms 
and  other  yards  for  services. 

Monday,  March  29th. — We  have  had  two  or  three 
rainy  days,  which  are  very  hard  for  the  people.  Some 
of  the  sick  are  lying  on  the  balcony  with  almost  no 
covering  or  bedding.  I saw  one  of  the  awfulest  sight 
I have  yet  seen  on  the  school  balcony  yesterday — a 
woman  stretched  out  on  the  bare  bricks,  half  naked, 
in  the  throes  of  death,  the  damp  cold  air  blowing  over 
her,  friendless,  helpless.  The  whole  school-room, 
aisles,  desks,  corners,  and  platform,  is  filled  with  the 
most  miserable  of  the  starving  sick.  We  had  the  man 
who  has  charge  of  our  tea-stand  take  the  samovars 
there  yesterday,  Palm  Sunday,  and  give  each  of  the 

43 


one  hundred  and  fifty  people  two  large  glasses  of  tea. 
It  costs  about  $3,  but  $2  were  given  me  by  Syrians. 
With  the  thousands  of  dollars  of  debt  just  for  dry 
bread,  we  don’t  feel  we  can  borrow  money  for  special 
food  for  the  sick  ones,  except  in  limited  quantities 
for  typhoid  patients.  We  need  space  more  than 
anything  else,  rooms  where  we  could  put  the  sick  on 
straw  mats  with  at  least  a quilt  over  them,  a fire  and 
a little  food  besides  dry  bread,  which  many  are  too 
sick  to  eat.  It  seems  dreadful  to  think  of  two  thousand 
people  dying  here  this  way,  but  after  twelve  weeks  of 
it  we  cannot  but  feel  glad  every  time  one  more  of 
these  helpless  suffering  ones  finds  rest.  Sometimes  for 
days  I seem  to  be  hardened  past  feeling,  and  then 
again  the  horror  of  it  all  sweeps  over  me.  We  pray 
and  pray  and  cry  out  to  God  for  deliverance,  but  no 
help  comes.  We  seem  shut  off  from  the  rest  of  the 
world  and  left  to  our  fate.  Nothing  from  the  outside 
world  for  three  months ! We  hear  many  reports,  but 
few  materialize.  We  are  told  that  word  has  come 
that  the  Crown  Prince  has  arrived  in  Tabriz  and  that 
Urumia  should  celebrate,  so  there  has  been  a great 
deal  of  firing  of  cannon,  display  of  banners,  and 
decoration.  We  have  had  our  entrance  decorated 
with  banners  and  rugs.  There  is  a great  deal  of 
rejoicing  among  the  Persians,  who  desire  to  see  the 
Persian  government  strong  enough  to  put  out  both 
Turk  and  Russian. 

A few  days  ago,  Mr.  Muller  managed  to  borrow  a 
thousand  tomans  from  a merchant  in  the  bazaar.  It 
was  counted  out  in  two-kran  silver  pieces.  This  he 
was  bringing  home  on  the  back  of  a porter,  he  walking 
close  behind  with  a Persian  soldier.  Suddenly  he 
found  himself  surrounded  by  six  Koords,  armed  to 
the  teeth  with  guns,  cartridge  belts,  and  daggers.  Two 
walked  ahead  and  punched  the  money-bag  to  assure 
themselves  that  it  was  really  money ; the  others  pressed 
close  behind  Mr.  Muller  as  they  followed  him  through 
the  streets.  They  asked  him  where  he  was  taking  the 
money,  but  he  walked  on  in  dignified  silence,  not 
deigning  to  answer,  though  trembling  for  the  safety 

44 


of  the  money.  They  reached  our  gate  in  safety,  and 
as  he  turned  in,  Mr.  Muller  thanked  the  Koords  for 
their  safe  escort.  They  laughed  and  passed  on.  Some 
of  the  young  Syrians  who  guard  the  gate  report  that 
a few  days  ago  a bunch  of  Koords  in  passing  stopped 
to  talk  and  said,  “We  came  down  here  to  the  plain 
with  the  intention  of  killing  you  all,  not  one  of  you 
would  have  escaped,  but  (pointing  to  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  over  the  gate)  we  don’t  dare  pass  under  that 
flag!”  Everybody  feels  that  had  we  not  been  able  to 
give  refuge  to  the  Christians,  there  would  have  been 
few  left  to  tell  the  tale ; and  so  even  yet  we  do  not 
dare  to  force  the  people  out,  and  they  all  say,  “We 
would  rather  die  here  of  hunger  and  disease  than  take 
our  chances  with  the  Koords  and  Turks.” 

Our  sick  missionaries  all  seem  to  be  getting  along 
well,  and  we  are  very  thankful.  The  typhoid  here  in 
the  city  is  usually  light,  and  there  are  few  deaths  from 
it,  though  many  from  dysentery.  Measles  almost  dis- 
appeared some  time  ago. 

Thursday,  April  rst. — Rabi  Nannoo  of  Geogtapa, 
our  best  Bible  woman,  has  died  of  pneumonia,  after  a 
few  days’  illness.  For  the  three  months  that  she  has 
been  a refugee  here  she  has  been  a fearless  and 
faithful  worker,  going  out  daily  for  religious  meetings 
to  the  houses  where  the  mountaineers  have  been 
huddled,  looking  after  the  sick,  not  hesitating  to  go 
to  any  place  where  she  could  help.  For  several  years 
she  has  supported  from  her  small  salary  her  brother’s 
four  orphan  children,  and  has  been  to  them  both 
father  and  mother.  Herself  unmarried,  she  has  given 
her  means  and  love  unselfishly  to  these  as  if  they  were 
her  own  children.  There  is  no  one  to  fill  her  place. 

We  have  started  to  buy  wheat  on  credit,  as  our 
cash  is  very  low  and  we  are  not  able  to  get  more 
money.  We  have  just  bought  four  hundred  bushels 
from  Rabi  David  of  Degala  for  part  of  his  debt  to  us. 
When  he  was  in  prison  and  fined  one  thousand  tomans 
to  save  his  head,  we  furnished  part  of  the  cash  and 
took  his  note.  He  can’t  pay  cash  now,  so  he  is  paying 

45 


in  wheat,  which  we  will  have  milled  to  give  to  the 
hungry.  What  credit  we  can  get  for  bread  is  for  a 
few  days  only.  Most  of  the  bakers  need  the  money 
to  carry  on  their  business. 

Friday,  April  2nd. — Bertha  Shedd,  ten  years  old,  has 
been  sick  with  typhoid  for  several  days,  and  now  Miss 
Lamme  is  beginning;  the  latter  went  out  to  the  hos- 
pital about  two  weeks  ago  to  help  there  when  Miss 
Coan  came  down  with  it.  Dr.  Packard,  Mrs.  Cochran, 
and  Miss  Coan  are  getting  well.  Oraham  Badel,  our 
financial  agent  and  general  assistant  in  the  City  Com- 
pound, is  very  low  this  morning. — Just  as  I was  writ- 
ing he  died,  leaving  a wife  and  four  little  ones. 

Several  hundred  Turkish  troops  have  come  into  the 
city,  evidently  in  retreat,  as  there  are  wounded  among 
them.  It  is  not  evident  from  which  direction  they 
came.  Last  evening  one  of  the  Turkish  officers  came 
rushing  in  here  in  great  distress.  He  had  taken  poison 
by  mistake,  and  came  in  here  to  be  saved.  He  was 
given  an  emetic,  and  his  life  was  saved.  They  have 
heard  of  germs  and  are  very  much  afraid  of  typhoid, 
and  had  some  corrosive  sublimate  in  a glass  for 
washing  hands.  This  man  saw  it  and,  thinking  it  was 
wine  or  whiskey,  poured  it  down  his  throat.  He  was 
terribly  scared,  and  after  being  relieved  of  the  poison, 
it  was  suggested  that,  as  his  life  had  been  saved,  he 
should  try  to  save  other  lives. 

Sunday,  April  4th. — This  journal  is  fast  becoming 
an  obituary.  At  first  the  hundreds  who  died  were  the 
poorest  and  the  weakest,  but  now  many  from  among 
our  best  are  going.  Yesterday  Dr.  Daniel  Werda,  Dr. 
Packard’s  assistant,  died  of  typhoid.  For  three  days 
Mrs.  McDowell  has  been  in  bed  with  high  fever.  It 
is  not  evident  yet  that  it  is  typhoid.  Last  night  our 
cook  went  to  bed  with  typhoid.  Miss  Schoebel  is  now 
trying  to  make  her  comfortable  and  has  her  old  mother 
look  after  her.  All  day  we  have  been  trying  to  get 
something  to  eat  for  the  hundreds  of  sick  who  have 
nothing  for  Easter.  Easter  is  the  Syrian  “Great 

46 


Feast,”  and  is  to  them  what  Christmas  is  to  us.  They 
say,  “The  Little  Feast  (Christmas)  was  black,  and 
now  the  Great  Feast  is  black  too.”  They  had  hoped 
so  much  that  deliverance  might  come  before  the  feast. 
We  have  given  eggs  and  soup  to  about  five  hundred 
sick,  and  before  evening  I hope  a glass  of  tea  will  be 
given  to  as  many  more.  To-morrow  we  plan  to  give 
soup  to  several  hundred  more  that  we  didn’t  reach 
to-day.  We  don’t  use  relief  money  for  anything  but 
bread,  and  so  have  only  personal  funds  for  the  sick — 
a very  little. 

Tuesday,  April  6th. — We  have  dwelt  so  long  in  the 
valley  of  death  with  the  sick,  the  starving,  the  dying, 
with  the  unending  procession  of  little  bodies  sewed  up 
in  a piece  of  cloth,  friendless  corpses  carried  out  on 
ladders,  with  gaping  mouths  and  staring  eyes,  crude 
unpainted  cofifins,  coffins  covered  with  black  chintz, 
the  never-ceasing  wail,  and  eyes  of  the  mourners  that 
are  never  dried,  hands  outstretched  for  what  we  cannot 
give,  and  now  so  many  of  our  own  number  are  down. 
I felt  on  Sunday  as  if  I ought  to  get  my  own  burial 
clothes  ready  so  as  to  make  as  little  trouble  as  possible 
when  my  turn  came,  for  in  these  days  we  all  go  about 
our  work  knowing  that  anyone  of  us  may  be  the  next 
to  come  down.  And  yet  I think  our  friends  would 
be  surprised  to  see  how  cheerful  we  have  kept,  and 
how  many  occasions  we  find  for  laughing ; for  ludicrous 
things  do  happen.  Then,  too,  after  dwelling  so  inti- 
mately with  death  for  three  months,  he  doesn’t  seem 
to  have  so  unfriendly  an  aspect,  and  the  “Other  Side” 
seems  very  near  and  our  Pilot  close  beside  us.  It  is 
at  such  times  that  one  finds  out  just  how  much  faith 
in  the  unseen  he  has,  and  just  how  much  his  religion 
is  worth.  I find  the  Rock  on  which  I can  anchor  in 
peace  are  the  words  of  Christ  Himself,  “Where  I am, 
there  ye  may  be  also.”  “If  any  man  serve  Me  let 
him  follow  Me,  and  where  I am,  there  shall  also  My 
servant  be.”  That  is  enough.  To  be  where  He  is. 
Recently  as  I have  read  sermons  or  books  written  for 
the  trying  times  of  life.  I have  found  them  tame  and 

47 


insufficient  for  the  occasion ; our  own  experiences  are 
so  much  more  intense  and  go  so  much  deeper  that 
nothing  but  the  words  of  God  Himself  can  reach  to 
the  bottom.  I have  been  re-reading  Browning’s 
“Prospice, ” but  it  doesn’t  thrill  me  as  much  as  it  did, 
for  I have  something  better;  “For  I know  whom  1 
have  believed  ...”  and  I “am  persuaded  that 
Death  cannot  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.” 

Afternoon.— This  morning  Mrs.  McDowell’s  rose- 
spots  appeared,  and  now  we  know  that  she  has  typhoid 
or  typhus  (it  was  typhoid).  Rabi  Ister  Alamshah  has 
consented  to  help  in  the  care  of  Mrs.  McDowell.  Miss 
Schoebel  and  I were  perfectly  willing  to  nurse  her, 
but  it  would  mean  throwing  our  work  on  some  other 
missionary  already  loaded  up.  Mr.  McDowell  will 
give  up  some  of  his  work  and  help  in  nursing  Mrs. 
McDowell.  There  are  now  six  of  our  number  sick, 
and  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  that  someone  else  will 
come  down  in  a few  days  unless  it  becomes  possible 
to  send  the  crowds  away. 

Evening. — To-day  Miss  Lamme’s  rose-spots  ap- 
peared, so  her  case  is  pronounced  typhoid. 

* * * * * 

Thursday,  June  3rd. — Almost  two  months  since  I 
last  wrote  in  my  journal.  Sunday,  April  nth,  I went 
to  bed  with  typhoid  or  typhus,  and  three  days  later 
Miss  Schoebel  came  down  also.  Rabi  Elishua,  a 
teacher  of  the  Persian  Girls’  School,  came  to  nurse 
me  at  once.  She  kept  up  for  three  weeks  and  saw 
me  through  the  worst  of  my  sickness ; then  she  took 
the  disease.  Three  of  the  other  Seminary  teachers  in 
succession  came  to  care  for  Miss  Schoebel,  and  each 
one  came  down  with  the  disease  in  turn.  Miss 
Bridges,  of  the  American  Orphanage,  came  to  help  us 
during  the  day,  and  in  twelve  days  went  to  bed  with 
typhus.  She  is  just  getting  about  again.  All  the 
teachers  who  helped  to  care  for  us  have  recovered, 
though  one  of  the  other  teachers  died.  We  were  all 
surprised  to  find  how  competent  these  untrained,  in- 
experienced girls  were  as  nurses  when  there  were  no 

48 


available  missionaries  left  to  nurse  us.  We  were 
dependent  upon  them  and  got  along  finely  without  any 
complications.  When  the  last  one  went  down  we  knew 
that  she  was  the  last  intelligent  nurse  we  should  find, 
and  after  that  we  were  dependent  upon  ignorant 
village  women. 

A great  many  things  happened  during  the  two 
months  of  our  illness  and  convalescence.  A very  large 
number  of  our  Syrian  friends  died.  Of  our  own  circle 
Mrs.  McDowell  died  April  16th,  and  Mrs.  Shedd, 
May  17th.  We  can’t  take  in  yet  what  their  loss  will 
mean  to  us  when  we  get  to  living  under  normal  con- 
ditions. Mrs.  Muller  attended  Miss  Schoebel  and  me 
for  two  and  a half  weeks;  then  she  took  the  fever. 
Her  little  boy  was  born  in  a few  days,  but  only  lived 
overnight.  This  is  the  fourth  grave  we  have  out  in 
Dr.  Coan’s  orchard  by  the  grape  arbor.  It  hasn’t  been 
possible  to  take  them  to  our  cemetery  at  Seir.  This 
week  Mr.  Muller  went  to  bed  with  typhus.  His  fever 
has  been  high.  He  is  the  thirteenth  out  of  eighteen 
missionaries  to  get  the  fever,  besides  two  of  the 
children,  Bertha  Shedd  and  Ruth  Muller.  On  Monday. 
Mr.  Labaree,  with  two  nurses,  Miss  Easton  of  the 
Tabriz  hospital  and  Miss  Burgess,  who  had  reached 
Tabriz  on  her  way  to  Urumia,  arrived.  Mr.  Labaree 
had  been  trying  for  weeks  to  get  through,  but  was 
unable  until  the  Russian  army  opened  the  way.  Yes- 
terday, June  5th,  Dr.  Lamme  arrived  and  began  work 
last  evening.  One  of  the  hard  things  during  these  five 
long  months  was  our  isolation  from  the  outside  world. 
Of  course  we  knew  that  our  friends  were  thinking  of 
and  praying  for  us,  but  it  is  a great  help  to  have  the 
tangible  evidence  in  the  shape  of  these  friends  and  of 
letters  from  many  others. 

On  Sunday,  May  24th,  the  advanced  guard  of  the 
Russian  army  entered  Urumia,  and  in  the  afternoon 
the  commander  came  to  call  on  our  gentlemen.  When 
we  learned  that  the  army  would  not  remain,  but  were 
ordered  to  follow  the  enemy,  there  was  consternation 
and  great  fear.  And  when  the  army  moved  on  the 
Moslems  immediately  began  to  annoy  and  rob  the 

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Syrians  who  had  returned  to  their  villages.  There 
was  great  fear  of  a Moslem  uprising  against  the 
Christians,  and  hundreds  fled  in  the  direction  of 
Salmas.  Finally  the  Russians  left  a small  guard  of 
about  two  hundred  men.  Three  days  ago  about  six 
thousand  Russian  troops,  with  artillery,  came  in  from 
the  south  and  marched  through  the  city.  We  watched 
them  from  our  roof,  and  it  was  a goodly  sight  to  us 
besieged  people.  We  will  try  now  to  empty  our  yards 
of  refugees.  A few  days  ago  there  were  still  about 
one  thousand  left  in  our  own  yards  and  in  one  yard 
adjoining,  which  we  have  been  renting  for  refugees, 
besides  many  others  in  surrounding  yards.  The  stench 
in  our  back  yard  is  almost  unbearable.  I don’t  know 
how  we  can  get  rid  of  the  smells  or  disinfect  the 
ground  which  must  be  soaked  for  two  or  three  feet, 
as  that  yard  has  been  used  as  a toilet  for  hundreds  of 
people  for  more  than  five  months. 

Yesterday  two  Red  Cross  nurses,  who  have  come 
with  the  Russian  army  from  Mongolia,  asked  to  be  our 
guests  for  a few  days  until  the  army  moved  on  in  the 
direction  of  Erzroom.  They  say  that  from  there  they 
will  go  to  Jerusalem.  When  traveling  they  dress  like 
the  Cossacks,  but  wear  their  nurses’  costumes  in  the 
house. 

A few  days  ago  a number  of  prominent  Syrians  who 
had  fled  when  the  Russians  evacuated  Urumia,  re- 
turned, many  of  them  to  broken  and  badly  damaged 
homes.  We  had  a service  of  thanksgiving  in  the 
church  yesterday,  the  first  time  in  many  months,  as  it 
had  been  occupied  by  refugees.  Thousands  have  lived 
in  such  terror  and  want,  it  is  a wonder  that  many  have 
not  lost  their  minds.  It  has  seemed  sometimes  as  if 
our  tears  were  all  dried  up  and  our  emotions  were 
dead,  we  have  seen  and  felt  so  much.  I suppose  it  is 
nature’s  way  of  saving  brain  and  nerve.  When  I look 
at  these  poor  wretched  creatures  and  little  children 
like  skeletons,  I find  I still  have  some  feelings  left. 
It  is  estimated  that  four  thousand  people  have  died 
from  disease,  hunger,  and  exposure,  and  about  a 
thousand  by  violence.  The  suffering  can  never  be  told, 

50 


nor  is  it  ended.  Hundreds,  yes  thousands,  are  des- 
titute, and  even  if  we  empty  our  yard  there  is  no  one 
left  but  the  missionaries  to  save  them  from  starvation, 
and  we  look  to  America.  In  the  name  of  all  Chris- 
tians we  have  tried  to  witness  for  Christianity  before 
this  Moslem  people.  WILL  THE  CHRISTIANS 
OF  AMERICA  PAY  THE  RILL? 


Remittance  of  Relief  Funds. 

Funds  for  the  relief  of  refugees  in  Turkey,  Persia 
and  the  Caucasus,  should  be  made  payable  to  Charles 
R.  Crane,  Treasurer  of  the  American  Committee  for 
Armenian  and  Syrian  Relief,  and  sent  to  him  at  70 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City.  The  contributions 
for  the  reconstruction  of  damaged  and  destroyed 
mission  property  in  Persia  should  be  sent  to  Dwight 
H.  Day,  Treasurer,  156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York- 
City,  with  the  statement  that  the  money  is  for  the 
"War  Emergency  Fund”  for  use  in  Persia.  The 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  will  give 
credit  for  money  received  for  the  latter,  the  “War 
Emergency  Fund,”  but  not  for  the  former,  the 
general  relief  fund. 


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